The tender was for the supply of coal to various power plants of India’s major power generation company, NTPC. The tender is for the current fiscal year ending March, 2009 and would be ended on September 16, 2009.
Delays to coal procurement in India would exacerbate its shortage of fuel for power generation, since the country accounts for two-thirds of power generation by burning coal. As per the latest document, the contract for the coal supply would be shared in the ratio of 50:30:20 among three bidders, as compared to the previous proposed ratio of 60:40 among two bidders.
If the second and third lowest bidders match the lowest rates, they would be awarded the contract, if not the tender would be reissued for the remaining quantities. The bids should be submitted for at least 6.25 million tonnes.
According to the new tender rules, bids by any firm which had supplied 2 million tonnes of coal per year to the firms from specified industries like steel, power and cement, for the previous three years, are allowed. It also specifies that a deposit has been fixed at 4% of the contract value compared to differential rates earlier.
Previously, the company has issued tenders for importing 12.5 million tonnes of coal in May 2009, which was not awarded following the complaint posted by Knowledge Infrastructure Systems, that some tender terms meant only trader Adani would qualify.
