Draft National Energy Policy

Releasing the Draft National Energy Policy, Centre’s think-tank Niti Aayog has recommended that the seven subsidiaries of India’s largest coal miner Coal India Ltd should be converted into independent companies and be allowed to compete against each other in the open market. In the draft of the policy, which aims to chart a way to achieve the energy security targets announced by the government, Niti Aayog has criticised Coal India setting prices “that are significantly higher than the implicit cost of mining by the independent power producers”. “Given its monopoly on coal, CIL is able to pass higher costs to coal buyers and thus has no incentive to contain costs. In the medium to long run, it is essential that we move away from this opaque coal economy and introduce greater competition in it,” the draft policy said.

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