Odisha will get an annual revenue of Rs 1,059 crore from the recently auctioned two coal blocks and is expected to generate total employment of 14,872, according to a statement from the Ministry of Coal.
The auction process for 19 blocks in India out of a total of 38 blocks was successfully completed in November 2020.
Odisha will receive Rs 792 crore as royalty and taxes, while the state will get Rs 267 crore from the revenue share at aggregated peak rate capacity level of 11 million tons per year.
Total capital investment is estimated at Rs 1,650 crore for the two blocks.
Commercial auction of coal mines along with transparent measures taken by the government has come at an opportune time to bridge the mismatch between the demand and supply of coal in the country. This will not only provide a huge opportunity for employment in the backward regions but will also save precious foreign exchange of about Rs.20,000 crores to Rs.30,000 crores per year.
India is currently producing about 729 million tons of coal. However, the domestic production is not able to meet the demand of coal in the country. India imported 247 million tons of coal in 2019-20.
