Big changes are afoot in India. The Indian Government is divesting a 10% stake in Coal India Ltd (CIL) and the company was scheduled to be listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange by August. Also, the coal ministry once again, in May, raised the question of whether private firms should be allowed to own commercial coal mines.

At present, private companies, such as steel makers, can own mines for their own consumption but the rest of the mining sector has been under tight government control since the coal sector was nationalised decades ago. However, on June 7,The Hindu reported; “The much-awaited initial public offer of CIL will get delayed and miss its earlier timeline of hitting the capital market between the last week of July and the first week of August. However issues such as appointment of book running lead managers and legal advisers have been sealed.”

Whenever it happens, it seems there will be a major change in the structure of India’s coal sector, and soon. All this and much more is discussed in IM’s soon to be published August issue and our annual review of world coal production and demand trends and close look at the industry in general.