JPMorgan, India Coal GO/NO GO- Light at the End of the Tunnel? GoM meeting today indicates some progress

Please Share:: India Equity Research Reports, IPO and Stock News
Visit http://indiaer.blogspot.com/ for complete details �� ��



 Coal GoM-Moving towards diluting GO/NO GO?: The much awaited
Coal GoM (Group Of Ministers) meeting took place earlier in the day
today. While no official details on the topics discussed/conclusions are
out yet, media reports (Bloomberg) have quoted officials as saying
that the GoM has agreed to allow companies to seek approval to
mine coal in some dense forest areas, which would basically nullify
the GO/NO GO classification. As per the media report, now the
applications would be considered on a case by case basis. However
specific coal blocks were not discussed in today’s meeting with the next
GoM scheduled for October 9th. Hindalco's Mahan coal block was
expected to come up for discussion but now has been postponed.
 Are all of the Chaturvedi panel report recommendations accepted?
Not so, in our view: The Coal GoM had constituted a panel headed by
Mr Chatruvedi to look into the entire coal GO/NO GO situation. As per
media reports (ET), the key panel recommendations included scrapping
of the GO/NO GO classification, and setting up a single window
approach. After today’s meeting the COAL Minster was quoted as
saying that a ‘middle path’ on the committee report has been reached.
We await for more details on what has been approved.
 GO/NO GO to Case by Case Approach- One small step forward: Yes
but NOT EXACTLY a Giant leap: Assuming that the GO/NO
classification eventually gets scrapped and the case by case approach is
adopted, what it means is that now the companies would be able to
approach the Ministry of Environment and Forest Affairs (MOEF)
for approvals (Environment and Forest approvals) to mine coal in
densely forested areas. In the current Go/NO GO classification,
essentially mines which come under the NO GO area are not allowed to
go for approval. The Case by Case approach does not mean that the
MOEF has to compulsorily approve the projects which come under
the NO GO areas and the projects can still be rejected or take
multiple years to get an approval. While a potential GO/NO abolition
is the first step towards increasing domestic coal production, without a
time bound approval process, removing the classification in itself is
unlikely to solve the coal deficit issues in India over the coming years.
 Still no clarity on CEPI removal on 2 key coal fields of CEPI: There
is still no clarity on whether Korba and Chandrapur coal fields of COAL
India would be removed from CEPI restrictions. Media reports (BS) have
quoted MOEF officials as saying that these 2 coalfields may not be
removed any time soon.