India's Hindalco, NLC among those to operate six coal mines

NEW DELHI, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Indias NLC India Ltd (NLCI.NS) and Hindalco Industries Ltd(HALC.NS) are among the companies that will be operating six coal mines that were put up for auction earlier this year, the government said on Friday.

The government has been looking to private players to boost coal production in the country as power demand surges.

This is the seventh round of auctioning of mines for commercial mining - a total of 92 mines have been auctioned so far, which are projected to generate an annual revenue of approximately 341.85 billion Indian rupees ($4.13 billion).

The mines auctioned as part of the latest tranche, of which two are fully explored and the remaining partially explored, are located in the central Indian states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and the eastern states of Jharkhand and Odisha.

The other companies that will be operating them are Shri Bajarang Power and Ispat Ltd (SRIB.NS), NTPC Mining Ltd, and Nilkanth Coal Mining Pvt Ltd.

\“Coal production from these mines will help to reduce the demand for imported thermal coal and decrease reliance on public sector coal mining companies,\” the ministry said in a statement.

($1 = 82.8150 Indian rupees)