The Hindu Business Line : CIL awaits Centre’s word on joint venture with Arcelor-Mittal

Kolkata, April 6 Coal India Ltd is likely to wait for the Centre to nominate Arcelor Mittal before negotiating further on the global steel major’s proposal to form a joint venture for extracting coal from abandoned and unexplored reserves.

“Arcelor Mittal wants to have a joint venture with CIL in abandoned and unexplored reserves. At CIL, we follow the expression of interest (EoI) route to seek joint venture partners. Accordingly, we have sought the Centre’s directive on Arcelor Mittal’s proposal. If the Government so desires, we may talk to them on nomination basis,” the CIL Chairman, Mr Partha S. Bhattacharyya, told newspersons on Saturday.

While the Centre’s clarification is awaited, CIL has asked its fully-owned subsidiary Central Mine Planning Development Institute to prepare details on its abandoned mine reserves and their current status.

On the joint venture proposal from Reliance Industries Ltd for surface coal gasification, Mr Bhattacharyya said that while the proposals go through the EoI route, the company was keen on the project.

Profit growth

CIL has posted over 12 per cent growth in profit before tax — from Rs 8,522.22 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 9,576.22 crore in 2007-08. Turnover has crossed the Rs 40,000-crore mark.

Announcing the annual performance, Mr Bhattacharyya said all coal producing subsidiaries except Eastern Coalfields Ltd posted profits last fiscal. ECL recorded a loss of approximately Rs 600 crore. Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) just managed to remain in the black.

The star performers in the CIL stable were Northern Coalfields (Rs 2,600 crore), Mahanadi Coalfields (Rs 2,490 crore) and South Eastern Coalfields (Rs 2,499 crore). Central Coalfields and Western Coalfields posted profits of over Rs 1,000 crore each.

Commenting on the outlook for 2008-09, the CIL Chairman said that while profit from operations was set to rise, an additional burden is expected following the award of the coal wage agreement (NCW-VIII) later this year.

Unlike in the previous years, CIL is now entering into a five-year wage agreement in line with other PSUs.

Forward auction delayed

Mr K. Ranganath, Director-Marketing, said the launch of forward auction scheduled in March has been postponed. “The prospective participants in the forward auction have appealed for simplification of the procedure. Accordingly, the auction is now slated for rollout in April,” he said.

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