Adani Enterprises loses CIL's short-term coal import tender

State-owned CIL has cancelled its maiden tender for short-term import of coal in which Adani Enterprises had emerged as the lowest bidder, sources said on Monday.
Adani Enterprises, which had quoted around Rs 17,000-plus per tonne for importing 2.416 MT of coal, was earlier selected for the short-term shipment.

However, for a medium-term tender for sourcing additional 6 million tonnes (MT) of coal from overseas, PT Bara Daya Energy had qouted Rs 2,000 per tonne less than the rate quoted by the Adani group firm.

So, Coal India, in its board meeting held on July 8, decided to cancel the short-term tender of 2.416 million tonnes and PT Bara Daya Energy was asked to supply the indented quantity against the medium-term tender, the sources said.

A query sent to Adani Enterprises seeking comment on the move remained unanswered.

According to the sources, the letter for award of contract was issued to the lowest bidder of medium term-tenders for east and west coast supply on July 9.

Subsequently, CIL awarded the contract for supply of 7.91 lakh tonnes of imported coal to PT Bara Daya Energy Ltd (consortium) to the interested power generation companies (gencos) during August and September, the sources said.

The gencos that have expressed their willingness to buy imported coal are CESC, Adhunik Power, Rattan India, Sai Wardha, Avantha Power & Infrastructure Ltd, Jindal India Thermal Power Ltd, Lanco Amarkantak Power Ltd, KSK, ACB India and D B Power.

While 4.295 lakh tonnes of coal would be imported for the month of August, 3.615 lakh tonnes would be shipped for the month of September.

On June 9, CIL had floated its maiden tender to import 2.416 million tonnes of coal to ensure adequate supply of the fuel to power plants in the country.

The move was part of the government's effort to build up stock of coal to avoid the reoccurrence of power outages which happened in April due to shortage of the fossil fuel. Coal shortages at various gencos had impacted the electricity supply in the country during the peak summer months of April and May.

On June 10, CIL floated two medium-term tenders for sourcing 6 million tonnes (MT) of additional coal from overseas, a move aimed at securing domestic fuel supplies amid the fear of shortage during monsoon.

In April, coal secretary A K Jain had attributed the low coal stocks at power plants to several factors such as increased power demand due to the boom in the economy post-Covid, early onset of summer, rise in the price of gas and imported coal, and sharp fall in electricity generation by coastal thermal power plants.

He had said a lot of measures are already underway to improve power supply in the country. PTI SID HVA