Banking on coal

Private investors, Coal India and the government are exploring ways to make coal mining more bankable as the heatwave pushes up demand for power

- SUBHOMOY BHATTACHARJEE

In the middle of the non-stop heat blast raging across North India since the end of March, leading mining companies, including Adani Enterprises, Vedanta, and Essel Mining, have informed the coal ministry that they will be keen to add sizable chunks of investment to expand coal production. This means they will need more bank financing – marking a reversal of the climate change programme. And the government is keen to walk the extra mile to make it happen.

In early May, industry leaders met Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi and his team at an industry meet and sought permission to reopen 20 abandoned mines of Coal India Ltd (CIL). Vinay Prakash, executive director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Adani Enterprises Ltd, said he is hopeful of reaching a target of mining 50 million tonnes (mt) in FY23 (from 27 mt in FY22), once the government support comes in. On the same note, V Srikanth, CEO (Mines), Vedanta Ltd, said "we have been consuming 40 million tonnes of coal per annum in the past two years, so we can feel the pinch” of coal shortage.

The companies assured Joshi that they wish to become joint development partners with CIL to renew coal production from the now-abandoned mines. The government wants to set up a revenue-sharing formula with the private sector, using the latter's expertise to expand production from these mines quickly.

The challenge for the companies is how to make the banks finance the projects.