The current supply-demand gap of coal in the country is 84 MT, and is expected to rise to at least 300 MTPA in medium term. Some of this supply shortfall will likely to be met by captive units and rest through imports.

While less than 10% of mines are allowed for private investment through captive mines, a large number of captive coal blocks are stuck in various implementation stages due to contentious issues, lack of availability of geological data, land acquisition and R&R, environmental clearances, mining leases etc. Apart from

these, constraints of local transportation, lack of surrounding infrastructure, and concerns over high ash content of run-off-mine (ROM) coal hinder production. Due to poor quality, companies are increasingly dependent on imported coal. The absence of legislative reforms required to encourage competition has made this sector vulnerable to inferior quality technology and production methods, lack of transparency in allocation of coal blocks, price increase etc.

The government's recent initiative in MMDR Bill 2011 has addressed the industry's key