Coal India shares over 2 per cent on Friday after Centre on Thursday asked state-owned power generation firms to immediately stop imports of the fuel and instead buy coal from the company.

At 2.56 pm, shares of the company were trading 1.79 per cent at Rs 312.70. The scrip opened at Rs 308.90 and has touched a high and low of Rs 314.35 and Rs 308.10, respectively in trade so far. Sensex was trading 47.73 points up at 26,573.19.

The auction of coal linkages for sponge iron industry has been deferred and bidding for the sector will now be held next week.

“Based on the feedback received during the pre-bid meeting held on May 29, 2016, it is hereby notified that the time line for auction of linkage of sponge iron sector has been extended,” Coal India (CIL) said in a notice.

Coal India was up 5% to Rs 296 on the BSE in early morning trade after the company raised prices by 6.29% across all its subsidiaries for both regulated and non-regulated sectors.

“The board has approved revision of coal prices w.e.f. 00:00 hours of May 30, 2016 appx. 6.29% increase over the current price. This will be applicable to all subsidiaries of Coal India and NEC for regulated and non-regulated sectors,” Coal India said in a statement.

Coal India on Wednesday said auction of coal linkages would be conducted for the sponge iron sector initially and the bid schedule will be released on Thursday.

The Coal Ministry had earlier issued policy guidelines and directed CIL to conduct auction of coal linkages for the non-regulated sector such as cement, steel/sponge iron and aluminium with a view to ensuring fuel availability to end users.

The Competition Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT) on Tuesday set aside the order of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) imposing a Rs 1773-crore fine on Coal India Ltd (CIL), as well as two related orders, and has remitted the matters back to the CCI for fresh consideration

On complaints filed by Maharashtra State Power Generating Company and Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited, CCI had fined CIL Rs 1,773 crore for abusing its dominant position as a supplier of coal by imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions in its fuel supply agreements with various customers.

Country’s coal imports fell by 15 per cent to 15.9 million tonnes (MT) in April this year.

The imports stood at 18.7 MT in the same month last year.

“Provisional coal import figures: Reduction from 18.7 MT in April 2015 to 15.9 MT in April 2016. In value terms, from Rs 8,942 crore to Rs 6,023 crore (32 per cent),” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said in a tweet.

State-owned CIL will this month hold the second phase of special e-auction for the current financial year for providing coal to power plants as the government’s targets 24X7 power supply across the country.

“The special forward e-auction for 2016-17 for power producers-Phase II will be conducted as per the terms and conditions followed for Special Forward E auction for 2016-17 Phase I and as per the scheme of Special Forward E Auction for power producers,” an official said.

The record coal production last fiscal allowed public-sector behemoth Coal India to augment sales via the lucrative electronic auction route to firms with captive power plants and power generators. The rise in e-auction sales boosted the company’s annual sales by Rs 2,500 crore.

In FY16, CIL sold 58 million tonnes (mt) of coal under spot e-auction. While this was 11% higher compared to FY15, the company discovered 33% higher prices compared to the notified rate. The lower grade of coal, for example, is priced at Rs 800-1,000/tonne by the state-run miner for supplies to power developers with fuel supply agreement (FSA).

Coal India Ltd missed both its output and off take target in April 2016, even as overall coal despatch, as well as those to power utilities dropped on a year-on-year basis. Coal India is in a production logjam, a company statement said.

Despatch dropped by 1.06 million tons to 42.5 million tonne in April last year, indicating less coal demand, a company statement said.

Plans by India’s coal monopoly to buy billions of dollars of new machinery and outsource work are facing resistance from powerful unions worried about job losses, in a potential blow to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to bring electricity to all.

State-run Coal India Ltd, the world’s biggest coal miner, has already doubled output growth since Modi came to power two years ago, owing to the removal of hurdles to production like environmental clearances and land acquisition.

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