New Delhi, Dec. 23 -- The Ministry of Coal on Tuesday opened the bids for the 14th round of Commercial Coal Blocks' Auction, witnessing encouraging participation from industry stakeholders.

Bids were received for 24 coal blocks out of the 41 blocks offered in this round, reflecting sustained industry interest in India's commercial coal mining framework, it said in a statement.

Out of the 41 coal blocks offered in this round, bids were received for 24 blocks, with a total of 49 bids submitted. The bidding process was conducted through a transparent hybrid mechanism, wherein online bids were decrypted and opened electronically in the presence of bidders. This was followed by the opening of sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents...