The Indian government “missed out on nearly $34 billion in royalties by selling private companies coal concessions at negotiated prices rather than auctioning them,†according to an audit released on Friday, Vikas Bajaj wrote in The New York Times.
The government agency's report, “the findings of which some government and corporate officials dispute, is the latest in a series of scathing indictments of the government's handling of natural resources and economic policy,†Mr. Bajaj wrote.
“A shortage of coal, the main fuel for India's power plants, is a big reason India has been unable to provide enough electricity to businesses and consumers,†he wrote. The growing gap between supply and demand for power led to the blackouts last month that cut power off to about half of India.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal “disputed the formula used by the auditor to estimate t he hypothetical loss and said the government had been ‘transparent' in its coal policies,†Mr. Bajaj wrote.
Energy industry executives said the auditor's report was “flawed because it did not take into account that almost all the coal had to be used to produce power that was then sold at government-determined rates to state utilities,†he wrote.
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