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India's coal firms face rising debt as auctions loom

Aggressive bidding may increase acquisition costs, while staying away isn't an option as that would wreck projects

Published Tue, Nov 18, 2014 · 09:50 PM
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Mumbai

INDIAN billionaires seeking to regain lost coal mining permits face rising debt at their companies when they take part in auctions the government plans to hold early next year.

Aggressive bidding may increase acquisition costs, while staying away isn't an option as that would wreck projects, according to Hindalco Industries Ltd, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd and Monnet Ispat & Energy Ltd. India's top court in September cancelled almost all of the 218 coal mining permits given since 1993, terming the allocations arbitrary and illegal.

"We are keen on participating," Kumar Mangalam Birla, the billionaire chairman of Hindalco, the world'…

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Coal

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