The upcoming initial public offering (IPO) pipeline for 2025 is getting bigger by the hour. One of the world’s largest coking coal producers, Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India, has also filed its draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). 

According to BCCL’s DRHP, the IPO will be entirely an offer for sale and is the first issue for BCCL. 

 

Here we’ve broken down the thick DRHP document for you, highlighting key details you should be looking at before the bidding.

Bharat Coking Coal IPO details

The IPO is a 100% book-built Issue. It is an offer for sale of 46.57 crore equity shares or 10% of the total paid-up equity capital by Coal India. As this is an offer for sale, the proceeds from the offer will go to its parent company, Coal India. 

Key IPO details like the floor price, offer price, bid lot size, and anchor investor offer price are going to be decided in consultation with the Book Running Lead Managers (BRLMs) based on market demand through the book-building process.

IDBI Capital Markets & Securities and ICICI Securities are working as the BRLM of the issue, while KFin Technologies is the registrar.

Bharat Coking Coal IPO: The ‘Gangs of Wasseypur’ connection

Bharat Coking Coal was incorporated in 1972. It has a registered corporate office in Dhanbad, Jharkhand. Yes, it’s that iconic town in Eastern India, made popular by the Bollywood movie Gangs of Wasseypur. The movie was centred around the coal mafia in Dhanbad, one of the key coal mining hotspots in the country. 

Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Company overview

BCCL is primarily engaged in the mining and supply of coking coal, non-coking coal, and washed coals. These coals are mainly used in the steel and power industries. The purpose of incorporating BCCL was to mine and supply coking coal concentrated in the Jharia, Jharkhand, and Raniganj, West Bengal coalfields.

The coking coal miner was conferred with the status of ‘Miniratna’ in 2014. As of FY25, coking coal accounted for 96% of BCCL’s total production. It won’t be wrong to say that the company is, in many ways, the backbone of the steel industry’s processing methodology. 

BCCL promoters

The promoter of BCCL is Coal India. CIL is also the ‘Promoter Selling Shareholder’ in this IPO. Coal India holds 4.66 billion equity shares, which is 100% of BCCL’s issued, subscribed, and paid-up equity share capital. The President of India, acting through the Ministry of Coal, Government of India, and other members of the promoter group, do not hold any equity shares in BCCL as of the DRHP date.

As BCCL is a wholly owned subsidiary of CIL,  the Government will continue to control BCCL and influence decisions such as director appointments, corporate action proposals, revenue budgets, capital expenditure, and dividend policy, even after the issue.

BCCL’s coal production

In FY24, BCCL achieved a record-high coal production rate, surpassing previous records. It produced 39.11 million tonnes of coking coal and 1.99 million tonnes of non-coking coal.  

BCCL’s total raw coal production stood at 40.50 million tonnes in FY25, which grew at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% from 36.2 MMT produced in FY23. In FY25, the production increased by 32.74% from 30.51 million tonnes produced in FY22.

The company produces two types of coal: Coking coal and non-coking coal. Coking coal, which is also called metallurgical coal, is a type of coal that is heated in the absence of air to produce coke. Coke is one of the crucial components in steelmaking. It is used as a fuel and reducing agent in blast furnaces to convert iron ore into molten iron. 

Non-coking coal, or thermal coal, is a type of coal that lacks the coking properties necessary for steelmaking. It is primarily used for power generation and various industrial heating purposes. Unlike coking coal, it does not soften and form a cake-like structure during carbonisation in a coke oven.

BCCL’s coking coal production

BCCL is the largest coking coal producer in India. It produced 58.50% of domestic coking coal in FY25, apart from accounting for 96% of BCCL’s total production in FY25. It had produced 38.89 million tonnes of coking coal. This is slightly lower than the last fiscal year. In FY24, the coking coal production stood at 39.11 million tonnes. The company produced 33.72 million tonnes in FY23. 

Overall, BCCL’s coking coal production grew by 50% in 5 years to 38.9 MMT in FY25 from 25.9 MMT in FY20.

BCCL’s non-coking coal production

The company’s non-coking coal production stood at 1.61 million tonnes in FY25, 1.99 million tonnes in FY24, and 2.46 million tonnes in FY23.

Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Mines and production methodology

BCCL operates 32 mines, including 3 underground mines, 25 opencast mines, and 4 mixed mines. Most of the production of coal was through opencast mining. In FY25, BCCL produced 39.36 million tonnes of coal through opencast mines. 

In FY24, the opencast production stood at 40.33 million tonnes, constituting 98.13% of the total production. In FY23, opencast production was 35.49 million tonnes, constituting 98.09% of the production. However, around 78% of the opencast production in FY25 was through third-party contractors.

Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Production by underground mining:

BCCL, in FY25, produced 1.14 million tonnes of coal through underground mines, which was 2.81% of the production. In FY24, the company’s underground production was 0.77 million tonnes, contributing 1.87%. 

In FY23, BCCL’s underground production was 0.69 million tonnes. Also, BCCL introduced Highwall Mining technology at ABOCP Mine in 2024 to improve recovery rates in opencast mines. In FY25, the company produced 0.53 million tonnes of coal using highwall technology. 

Not just that, BCCL was the first company in India to introduce Powered Support Longwall Technology at Moonidih underground coal mines in 1978. In FY25, production from the longwall face at Moonidih mine was 0.49 million tonnes.

Bharat Coking Coal IPO: Operational efficiency 

The output per man-shift (OMS) has improved significantly from 3.8 tonnes in FY23 to 6.5 tonnes in FY25, indicating better productivity. BCCL recorded its highest overburden removal of 182.4 cubic millimetres (Mm3) in FY25. Overburden removal is critical for accessing coal seams in opencast mining. 

Before moving ahead, a washery, which is also known as a coal preparation plant or CPP, is a facility where raw coal is processed to remove impurities like ash, dirt, and rock, making it cleaner and more efficient for burning. This process, also called coal washing or beneficiation, is important for improving coal quality and reducing pollution.

BCCL IPO: A look at global and local competition 

BCCL is the largest producer of coking coal in India, accounting for 58.50% of domestic coking coal production in FY25 and a 4% share in overall domestic coal production.

Domestically, the company has two competitors: Central Coalfields (CCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. (MCL). In India, CCL is BCCL’s primary competitor in the coking coal segment, as both are major commercial players selling coking coal. In FY25, CCL contributed approximately 31% to India’s coking coal production.

MCL is not a direct competitor to BCCL as it is another CIL subsidiary. Also, its primary business is the production of non-coking coal. MCL is the largest non-coking coal producer. MCL produced 100% non-coking coal, amounting to 225.2 MMT in FY25.