(a) whether the Government has determined the price of coal on the basis of a
new formula from January, 2012;
(b) if so, the details of the old and new formulae of price determination;
(c) the reasons for making this change; and
(d) the likely percentage of rise in the price of coal on implementation of the
new system of price determination?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COAL (SHRI PRATIK PRAKASHBAPU PATIL)
(a)&(b): The Government of India vide its Gazette notification no. 22021/1/2008-CRC-II
dated 30.12.2011 has notified for switch over from the existing Useful Heat Value based
system of grading and pricing of non-coking coal to fully variable Gross Calorific Value
based system w.e.f. 01.01.2012. However the Government has not determined the price of
coal on the basis of new formula from January 2012.Since the price revision was for
conversion of price from UHV based system to GCV based system , it has been kept revenue
neutral to the extent possible for Coal India Limited (CIL) as a whole. CIL for the
purpose of grading based on GCV, kept the top end of the GCV range at 7000 kcal/kg and
the bottom end at 2200kcal/kg. The GCV bandwidth for the purpose of pricing was considered
to be 300Kcal/kg meaning that the price will remain same within a particular bandwidth.
(c): Among the major producers of coal globally , India was the only country that was
not following the GCV system. The Government of India vide its Gazette notification dated
30.12.2011 has notified for switch over from the existing Useful Heat Value based system
of grading and pricing of non-coking coal to fully variable Gross Calorific Value based
system w.e.f. 01.01.2012.
(d): The switch over of non-coking coal prices w.e.f. 01.01.2012 has been done considering
revenue neutrality to the extent possible for CIL as a whole.