<div>The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday (24 September) that companies will have until end-March next year to return most of the coal blocks (214) allocated illegally to them by the government since 1993, which could worsen an already severe shortage of the fuel in the short-term and raise imports.<br /><br />The court ruled last month that the country's decades-old method of granting coal mining concessions was illegal and arbitrary, putting investments worth billions of dollars at risk. The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex plunged 215 pts at midsession after the Supreme Court ruling.<br /><br />The court declared last month that India's decades-old method of granting coal mining concessions was illegal and arbitrary. The latest ruling will allow the government to come up with a plan to auction the blocks.<br /> <br />The verdict sent shares of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Tata Power Co Ltd sharply lower.<br /> </div><div><br />The court, led by Chief Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha, let off two coal blocks operated by Reliance Power and one each by state firms NTPC Ltd and Steel Authority of India Ltd.<br /> <br />The government's award of more than 200 coal blocks to steel, cement and power companies was at the centre of the "Coalgate" scandal. An auditor report in 2012 said the underpriced sales had cost the exchequer as much as $33 billion.<br /> <br />The government had earlier proposed auctioning the blocks, a process that is likely to take months. Legal wrangling and investigations into the concession process meant there was a tepid response to India's first coal block auction in February.<br /> <br />The government withdrew the auction after only two firms bid for one of the three blocks on offer.<br /> <br />The court said that 42 coal blocks under production or about to commence production will remain with their present management for the next six months till the central government decides on their reallocation.<br /><br />The ruling sent shares of Jindal Steel and Power Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd and Tata Power Co Ltd sharply lower. The firms have already spent heavily on steel and power plants based around the coal blocks.<br /><br /><strong>IIDBI Bank Shares Down 5.3%, Coal India Up 5%<br /></strong>State-run lender IDBI Bank Ltd has close to Rs 2000 crore ($328 million) loan exposure to companies affected by a Supreme Court order scrapping coal blocks but not all of it will be problematic, the lender's head said on Wednesday.<br /><br />"We are assessing," M.S. Raghavan, chairman and managing director of IDBI Bank, told Reuters after the Supreme Court's verdict.<br /><br />IDBI Bank shares were down 5.3 per cent compared to a flat performance in Nifty. The Bank Nifty fell about 1 per cent.<br /><br />Coal India shares, however, jumped 5 per cent once the Supreme Court verdict was up.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Sensex Down 215 Pts<br /></strong>The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged over 215 points on Wednesday in the late afternoon trade as stocks led by metal sectors faced selling pressure after the Supreme Court cancelled 214 coal block allocations.<br /><br />The Sensex after opening in positive zone, succumbed to selling pressure and dropped by 215.69 points, or 0.80 per cent, to 26,560.00 at 1415 hours with capital goods, realty, consumer durables, metal and banking sector stocks retreating to selling pressure.<br /><br />The NSE 50-share Nifty dipped below the 8,000 mark by falling 67.05 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 7,950.05.<br /><br />Major losers were Jindal Steel Power 9.77 per cent to Rs 190.15, Hindalco by 0.38 per cent to Rs 156.45<br /><br />Other losers were ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd, BHEL, Axis Bank, Bajaj Auto, Hero Motoco, Tata Motors, L&T, Tata Steel and TCS.<br /><br />Besides, persistent selling by foreign funds on the bourses also dampened sentiments, they said.<br /><br />(Agencies)<br /> </div>
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