Coal India To Divest 25% Stake In Bharat Coking Coal; Plans Subsequent Listing

Coal India Ltd. on Thursday said it is planning to divest 25% stake in its unlisted arm Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. and will go for the subsequent listing of the subsidiary on stock exchanges after obtaining further clearances.

A meeting of the board of directors to this effect was held on March 10, 2022, Coal India Ltd. said in a regulatory filing.

"As advised by MoC (Ministry of Coal), CIL Board in its 438th meeting held on March 10, 2022 had accorded its "in-principle" approval to divest 25% of paid-up share capital of BCCL held by CIL and its subsequent listing on stock exchanges and advised to forward the proposal to Ministry of Coal for obtaining further clearances," the filing said.

Stating that the company's board had given only "in principle" approval to the proposal, CIL said that only after getting further clearance from the government, subsequent action would be initiated.

"On receipt of further clearance from MoC (Ministry of Coal) the same would be placed to CIL board and the decision of CIL board would be promptly disseminated to stock exchanges," the filing said.

In FY21, BCCL achieved a production of 24.66 million tonnes, against the target of 37.13 million tonnes and off-take of 23.13 million tonnes against the target of 37.13 million tonnes.

The net turnover of the company during FY21 was Rs 6,149.81 crore against the previous year turnover of Rs 8,967.56 crore. This significant fall in sales affected the bottom line of the company's finances, according to the annual report of BCCL.

As a result of which, the company could not maintain its profitability unlike previous years and incurred a net loss of Rs 1,577.06 crore. Its PBT stood at Rs 991.12 crore in 2019-20, the report said.

Coal India accounts for over 80% of domestic coal output.

BCCL was incorporated in January, 1972 to operate coking coal mines operating in the Jharia & Raniganj Coalfields. It was taken over by the government on October 16, 1971. It is a Public Sector Undertaking engaged in mining of coal and allied activities.