draft-rules-authorise-cco-to-regulate-coal-exchange

The Central government has come up with draft rules to form an organisation to regulate the functioning of the proposed coal exchange which will facilitate the trading of coal as a commodity.

 

The proposed Coal Controller Organisation (CCO) will be a subordinate office of the coal ministry. Its responsibilities include coal mine closure activities to ensure environmental sustainability, collecting and disseminating coal statistics, inspecting collieries, issuing directives on coal grades and acting as an appellate authority for grade-related disputes.

 

“The Ministry of Coal proposes to appoint the Coal Controller Organisation to register and regulate the coal exchange(s) to be established in the country," says the draft coal exchange rules, 2025, on which the ministry has invited comments from stakeholders by mid-October.

 

Also read: India’s coal import continues its decline in July

 

The operations of the coal exchange would broadly be under the government, going by the regulations made by the CCO. The draft further said that the recent policy reforms in the coal sector has resulted in self-sufficiency and increased availability of the dry fuel in the country.

 

Coal production is poised to reach new heights with the country already breaching the production mark of 1 billion tonnes in the last fiscal. It is likely to grow beyond 1.5 billion tonnes by 2030.

 

With the increased availability of domestic coal in the country, it is expected that there would be a paradigm shift towards a surplus coal scenario and, resultantly, coal sales are likely to undergo a major change from the existing mechanisms of sales channels, necessitating a major market reform backed by a regulatory mechanism.

 

"Therefore, in the scenario of increased availability of domestic coal in the country, further reforms are being carried out in the coal sector with focus on promoting competitive markets for the sale of coal, and thus, the coal ministry proposes to establish coal exchange under the enabling provisions of the MMDR Amendment Act, 2025," the draft said.