Coal Secretary had warned way back in 2004 about windfall gains to private companies but PMO continued to delay process of competitive bidding

COAL BLOCK QUESTIONS

This delay meant coal wasallocated under existing, opaque process, giving private companies windfall gains

CAG took into account average production cost per tonne of coal of all grades produced in open cast mines of CIL as well as sale price as reference value in order to calculate financial gain toallottees

Some of the companies thatbenefited: Tata group, Reliance Power, Jindal Power and Steel, Abhijit group, Bhushan group, Electrosteel, Adhunik group, S.R. Rungta group, Sajjan Jindal, Godavari Ispat, O.P. Jindal group, Jaiprakash Gaur, Goenka group

Estimate of financial gain:

Rs 186,000 crore