CIL chief Partha S. Bhattacharyya (left) with mjunction MD Viresh Oberoi in Calcutta on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, June 25: State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) may have to extend the June 30 deadline to sign the fuel supply agreement (FSA) with companies in the power sector. However, CIL’s customers from other sectors, such as cement and glass, have already signed the agreement.

“We have introduced a penalty clause in the agreement under which the CIL is to provide at least 60 per cent of its commitment and the buyer will also be bound to pick up at least 60 per cent of its commitment. Whoever fails will have to pay a penalty,” said CIL chairman Partha S. Bhattacharyya.

“All our customers other than the companies in the power sector have agreed to this clause. Power producers are still negotiating on the issue and most likely we have to extend the deadline for signing the agreements with them beyond June 30,” he said.

The power sector is the CIL’s largest consumer.

Under a new coal distribution policy, all customers requiring more than 4,200 tonnes of coal per annum will have to enter into an agreement with the CIL.

While power and fertiliser firms, which fall under the administered price regime, will get 100 per cent of their requirement, other large consumers, such as cement and glass companies, will get 75 per cent of their requirement at the notified price.

Companies needing less than 4,200 tonnes of coal a year will have to make the purchase through the e-auction route.

“Under the FSA system, we are committed to supply the coal required by our customers. We wanted the buyers also to be responsible to some extent to lift the coal. Hence the penalty clause,” Bhattacharyya said on the sidelines of a function of mjunction services, which today announced the relaunch of its content and conference division as mjunctionedge along with the launch of its industry magazine in Hindi.