New Delhi: The government is working on a swapping arrangement of coal, which will help save Rs 6,000 crore and improve fuel supplies to power plants, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.
Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal informed the Lok Sabha that coal production had significantly increased in the last few months.
Replying to questions, Goyal said the government was working on an arrangement under which coal blocks will supply fuel to the nearest power plants, under a swapping arrangement to rationalise coal linkages.
The coal minister explained that since coal blocks mostly have arrangements with power plants located far off, it leads to heavy expenses on carriage. This issue will be addressed through the swapping arrangements between coal blocks.
Citing an example, Goyal said, recently NTPC and Gujarat State Electricity Corp entered into a pact for swapping one million tonnes of coal, which is expected to save the government over Rs 300 crore in costs.
The experiment will then be expanded to other states, he said, adding it will help save Rs 6,000 crore and benefit consumers.
Separately, Goyal said that as many as 11 public sector banks have exposure to various coal linkages worth over Rs 51,000 crore.
Quoting information received from the Department of Financial Services, the minister said, "11 banks have exposure to the tune of Rs 51,203.96 crore against coal linkages, 10 banks have no exposure, whereas six banks have not given information."
Goyal was replying to a query on whether state-run lenders grant credit against coal linkages and their details.
