CIl applies for Nava Ratna status: CMD

Kolkata, Apr 5(UNI) Coal India Limited(CIL) has applied to the Union Government for Nava Ratna status and is awaiting approval.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference here today, CIL chairman and managing director Partha S Bhattacharyya here today said, ''We expect to get the approval in the current year.'' Mr Bhattacharya said CIL, along with its four subsidiaries, had been accorded Mini Ratna Status. As a result these companies were given more financial and operational autonomy.

These four companies are Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, Sambalpur: Northern Coalfields Ltd, Singruali: South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Bilaspur and Western Coalfields Ltd and Nagpur, he added.

When asked about the coal price rise, he said after a gap of over two and a half years, the public sector coal producer CIL is expecting revision of coal prices upwards soon, to sustain profitability in the long run.

''We are contemplating a price hike. Any decision in this will take into account inflation as increase in coal prices will have a cascading effect on many other sectors,'' he said.

Mr Bhattacharyya also mentioned that non-revision of coal prices due to inflation and a stay by Supreme Court on e-auctioning, had affected the pre-tax profit of the company, which declined over five per cent during 2006-07.

When asked about divestment of its five per cent stake in CIL's, Mr Bhattacharyya said the company would discuss the matter of stake dilution with the government during current fiscal.

UNI