Introduction

Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is situated in southern part of India and having its operations in four districts of northern Telangana i.e., Khammam, Karimnagar, Warangal & Adilabad. SCCL is supplying coal to most of the customers situated in Telangana and to some extent in southern parts of India and some parts in Maharashtra. SCCL has produced 62.01 Million tonnes of coal during 2017-18 and has dispatched 64.62 Million Tonnes of coal to various categories of consumers during 2017-18 and has set production target of 66.06 Million Tonnes for the year 2017-18. SCCL is operating 29 underground mines and 19 Opencast mines to meet the linkage requirements of major power (66%%), Cement (13.5%), Captive Power (6.6%), Sponge Iron (3.1%) and other customers (10.8%)

SCCL is mainly supplying coal to four major power utilities i.e., NTPC Ramagundam, T-GENCO power utilities of T.S., Karnataka Power Corporation of Karnataka and Parli power station of MAHAGENCO. Apart from the above major power utilities, SCCL is also supplying coal to 57 cement units, 32 captive power plants and 53 sponge iron units through Fuel Supply Agreements (FSA).

To ensure smooth dispatches, SCCL has established 8 No. of Coal Handling Plants (CHPs) through which coal is dispatched by Rail / MGR / Rope mode. NTPC Ramagundam will draw 90% of its requirement through Merry-Go-Round (MGR) dedicated transport system established by NTPC from Ramagundam OCP-1 and Ramagundam OCP-3 and the balance requirement through Rail mode from other coal handling plants. Heavy Water Plant will draw the total requirement from Kondapauram CHP (MNG) through Rope mode. Cements, Sponge Iron, Captive Power will draw their requirement from the Rail and Road dispatch points of SCCL.

SCCL coal distribution system is governed by New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP) announced by Ministry of Coal (MOC) w.e.f. 18.10.2007.As per NCDP, all major IPPs, CPPs, Cement, Sponge Iron units have to approach MOC through their nodal Ministry for allotment of coal. Standing Linkage Committee (Long Term) will consider all such applications and recommend to coal companies for issue of Letter of Assurance (LOA). On issue of LOA, the unit holders have to approach the respective coal company along with commitment guarantee required to be submitted. On receipt of the commitment guarantee, the coal company has to issue LOA stipulating the time milestones to be achieved for allotment of coal. On completion of the milestones, the respective unit has to approach the coal company for commencement of coal supplies.

Apart from the above category units, small and medium scale units have to approach SCCL through recommendation obtained from Industries dept for allotment of coal. On receipt of recommendation from Industries dept, SCCL will examine such recommendation and allocate coal based on the availability. If the 75% quantity recommended is more than 4200 TPA, the unit holder has to sign FSA for commencement of coal supplies and coal supplies will be as per the commercial terms of FSA.

As per NCDP, all IPPs & CPPs are to be supplied 100% of their normative quantity and other categories like Cement and Sponge Iron units will be supplied at the rate of 75% of their normative quantity and accordingly coal companies have to sign FSA for supply of coal.