Project Details

Challenge

The assertion of Coal Quality had been a matter of dispute since the inception of Coal India due to discrepancies between the coal quality dispatched by the producer and the coal quality being received at the coal consumer’s end.

In order to resolve this issue, under the directives of the Ministry of Coal; Coal India Limited (CIL) nominated Quality Council of India (QCI) to conduct the third-party sampling, testing, and analysis of coal which aims to ensure to uphold the quality of coal, bring more transparency in the process and to enable quality-based pricing mechanism for the coal dispatches.

Approach

QCI has been facilitating Third Party Sampling, Testing and Analysis of coal (TPS) for the coal dispatch being supplied under various auction schemes to power and non-power consumers.

QCI began its on-ground operations back in August 2017 at Chirimiri, Chattisgarh. Today, we are actively present across the 8 subsidiaries of CIL (South Eastern Coalfields, Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Northern Coalfields Limited, Central Coalfields Limited, Bharat Coking Coal Limited, Eastern Coalfields Limited, North Eastern Coalfields) covering operations at 320+ locations in association with 170+ on-ground staffs. Currently, we are sampling around 20% of the coal dispatches pertaining to 365+ power and non – power coal consumers. On-ground operations are being monitored by the central team which consists of 21 professionals facilitates the planning, reporting, project development, finance, etc. However, it hasn’t been a smooth journey and we faced many problems ranging from lack of infrastructure at mining locations, massive manpower recruitment on account of local political pressure.

QCI has been working in a segregated model and has successfully created a three-level self-defense system wherein, QCI professionals oversees the processes, NABCB accredited Inspection Bodies provides the manpower for executing sampling, and NABL-accredited coal testing laboratories for analysis of coal. Given the strict time-frame and efficiency parameters involved and adhered to, the project offers us a blueprint for incorporating best practices across the board.

Outcome

Initially, QCI facilitated sampling for special forward e-auction for power consumers and linkage auction for non-power consumer. In 2020, the scope of work has been further extended to Spot auction/ Exclusive e-auction for non-Power consumers and Shakti Scheme/Linkage Auction for Power consumers.

Since the inception of the project, more than 4050 tripartite agreements have been signed, totaling over 330 million metric tons of coal for conducting third-party sampling, testing, and analysis.
  • Around 511+ million metric tonnes (MMT) of coal have been sampled till date. The FY wise bifurcation is as follows-
    • 10.91 MMT in FY 2017-18
    • 65.87 MMT in FY 2018-19
    • 73.23 MMT in FY 2019-20
    • 78.29 MMT in FY 2020-21
    • 87.47 MMT in FY 2021-22
    • 96.95 MMT in FY 2022-23
    • 98.70 MMT in FY 2023-24
  • QCI has developed a live sample monitoring dashboard/online portal called the "PARIKSHAN Portal" to promote regular inspection of coal through sampling and analysis aim towards capturing the collection and preparation data at the loading points of Coal India Limited (CIL). This initiative is to eliminate human errors and transition for a paperless model. Further, the portal ensures the double-blinding of coal samples, incorporating the QR code-based application for maintaining the comprehensive confidentiality in the process.
  • In November’2023, QCI has been empaneled by Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on nomination basis for facilitating Third Party Sampling, Testing and Analysis. The empanelment tenure is up to 25th May’2027.

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