Coal Trade Exchange, Deadline Until May 7

New Delhi: The government has extended the deadline to early next month for public comments on the proposed rules on Coal Trade Exchange that will facilitate the dry-fuel's trading as a commodity. "Ministry of Coal had published the proposed draft legislations on Coal Trade Exchange for public consultation. Ministry of Coal has decided to extend the last date for submission of comments/suggestions from April 6, 2025 till May 7, 2025," the coal ministry said on its website.

The coal ministry has proposed to empower the Coal Controller Organisation (CCO) as the regulator for the proposed trade exchange. At present the coal sales channels in the country are specific to the government-owned coal companies, including Coal India Ltd. A need is therefore felt to provide a platform i.e. Coal Trading Exchange (CTE), to also allow commercial, captive miners a ready access to market their produce, the ministry said, adding that the public sector coal companies may also use this platform.

The exchange will facilitate trading of coal as a commodity. The CTE is envisaged to lead to a ‘many-to-many' platform where both buyers and sellers can bid simultaneously, thereby, making price discovery of coal more efficient and competitive.

Thus, the Coal Trading Exchange would lead to a paradigm shift by transforming the coal sales model in the country from a ‘One-to-Many' model to ‘Many-to-Many' model.