In the most significant move involving the Indian coal sector since its nationalisation in 1973, the Union Cabinet on Tuesday decided to end the monopoly status of state-miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) by opening commercial mining for the private sector.

Railway and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting that it had approved the methodology for auctioning coal mines to private companies in order to bring efficiency into the sector.

“The government has taken several measures in the coal sector, which will enhance competition in the system, bring efficiency in coal production, reduce coal import, save foreign exchange and generate job opportunities for the people,” Goyal said

Queried on the implications for Coal India, which has enjoyed near-monopoly for over 40 years, Goyal said commercial mining would also help the state miner because competition would help improve efficiency of all stakeholders. “The quality of coal would improve and imports would come down. We want India to be self-sufficient in coal. The move aims to improve ease of doing business in India,” he said. Goyal further said the revenue generated from coal mining would go to the mine-bearing states, while the Centre would not have any share in this income.

Coal India scrips on the stock exchanges have taken a minor fall after the news was announced. Trading at Rs 308.10, the stock is down by Rs 2.15 or 0.69%. Nearly 1.93 lakh sell orders have been placed for 1.60 lakh buy orders.

The stock’s 52 week high/low have been Rs 332.10 (27th February 2018) and Rs 234 (11th August 2017).