Bharat Coking Coal Limited, a Coal India subsidiary based in Dhanbad, has reduced the price of coking coal by up to 23 per cent to attract new bulk customers.

“BCCL has taken a historic decision to make the price of coking coal competitive to attract new power and non-power customers,” the company said in a statement on Monday.

“The discount will be offered till the end of the current fiscal,” Samiran Dutta, director (finance), told The Telegraph, adding the offer was only for bulk customers who would carry the coal via railways.

On whether the move was aimed to clear stocks, Dutta said, “Yes, that’s also true and we are expecting to exhaust the present stock of about 3.5 million tonnes (mt) by the end of March.”

“The dispatch stood at around 8 to 10 rakes per day now compared with 20 to 25 rakes per day earlier,” Dutta said when asked whether offloading in BCCL was less compared with the other CIL subsidiaries.

Dutta said the reduced rates will be offered during the e-auction that will begin on February 10.

Depending on the grade of coking coal, the discount would be in the range of 10-23 per cent of the current price.

The price of W-IV grade coking coal that is sold at Rs 3,462 per tonne at present will be offered at Rs 2,675 per tonne during the e-auction, which is a discount of about 23 per cent.