Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal announced that the government has approved swapping of coal supplies between companies from public and private sectors. The announcement was made during an event organized by the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.

This move is expected to help augment the availability of fuel and reduce transportation charges.

"Only today I have approved the proposal ... henceforth government and public sector companies can swap their coal with private companies also and I would like it to be across sectors," the minister said, adding that they are first working on power to power sector.

He furthered by saying that the guidelines which were being framed would be out in the next 30 days.

"We would be allowing all public and private companies to swap coal to achieve the next level of efficiency through rationalization of coal linkages...I would urge you...(power ministry) to talk to DIPP or any other administrative ministries or the coal ministry if possible we could look at the next stage where we could allow swaps across consumers in the country," he said.

Minister Goyal also stressed on exploring the possibility of buying additional lands and setting up industrial parks on places where solar parks were set up so that the power produced from the plant could be used in-situ.

He also mentioned the need for round the clock power supply to every telecom tower across the country. In addition, he said that PGCIL should consider having balance sheet size to unlock capital.

"I think it is time now for Power Grid to seriously look at moving out of becoming an asset holding company into a project management, implementing company. These assets which have accrued over the last 25 years, it's time to look at at least halving the balance sheet so that it can unlock your capital," he said, adding that Power Grid should explore infrastructure investment trust mode to unlock capital from assets.

"You must look at investment trust that are permitted by the law. I would urge...(power ministry) to look at some amendments to the regulatory framework so that the projects which Power Grid has and any other transmission company has, can move from a cost plus scenario to possibly an escalating formula or a fixed plus, or inflation linked formula," he said.