"During 2011-12, the subsidiary companies of CIL have earned Rs 5,600 crore more than the notified price of coal by selling coal through e-auction," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told Rajya Sabha today.
As the government has not taken any decision to discontinue e-auction of coal, the question of coal companies incurring any loss on this account would not arise, he said replying to whether coal companies may lose Rs 6,000 crore due to cut in spot sales.
In his written reply, Jaiswal said e-auction was carried under the provisions of new coal distribution policy of October 2007.
He said that the purpose behind e-auction was basically "to provide access to coal for such consumers who are not able to source coal through the available institutional mechanisms for reasons like seasonality of coal requirement, limited requirement of coal not warranting long term linkage etc."
Sale of coal under e-auction also provides access to consumers to procure coal of their choice and any incremental amount earned over the notified price, through e-auction, is incidental, he added.