Indo-Asian News Service, Kolkata, Feb 24: Citing conflict of interest and objectives, state-owned coal miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) Tuesday said it is withdrawing from a private joint-venture under the central government’s ministry of steel.
“This issue of quitting International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd (ICVPL) has been going on for two-and-half years now. We have our own unit by the name of Coal Videsh to cater to our needs in the international market and the objective of the joint venture was conflicting to our interest… hence, we decided to opt out of it,” a senior official from CIL told IANS.
The company earlier Tuesday had informed the stock exchange on this. “CIL Board, in its meeting held February 13, directed that CIL should withdraw from International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd (ICVPL)”, the company said in a filing with the National Stock Exchange.
The senior executive from CIL also said that there was an issue of the variety of coal targeted. “ICVPL is focusing on met and coking coal which is contrary to our objectives”, he said. Coking coal, also known as metallurgical coal, is used to create coke, one of the key irreplaceable inputs for the production of steel. CIL holds 28 percent share in the firm it may secede from.
Formed in 2009, the jv includes Navaratna companies like SAIL, CIL, NTPC Ltd, National Mineral Development Corporation Ltd and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam.