No plans to quit ICVL: NMDC

Dismissing reports that the company was planning to exit from International Coal Ventures (ICVL), state-run NMDC said it will continue as one of the consortium partners in ICVL and was scouting for coking coal mine assets both in India and abroad.

“NMDC is very much part of ICVL and there are no plans to quit from this consortium. NMDC, being a mining company, is on the lookout for additional mineral resources including coking coal in India and abroad. This would not mean NMDC is not a part of ICVL,” the company said in a release.

A committee appointed by the Ministry of Steel in one of its reports noted that Coal India Ltd, NTPC and NMDC were scouting for acquisitions on their own as well, invariably leading to a compromise in their involvement in ICVL.

NTPC and Coal India have expressed their willingness to exit from ICVL as the venture does not serve their purpose. In March, Coal India has decided to exit the consortium citing it as a financial burden without commensurate advantage.

ICVL was originally incorporated to facilitate acqusition of coal mines abroad. It was floated as a joint venture between five state-run firms namely SAIL, Coal India, RINL, NMDC and NTPC in May, 2009. While SAIL and Coal India have 28 per cent stake each in ICVL, RINL, NMDC, NTPC has 14 per cent in each.