New Delhi, India – At 11am on January 31, 2015, India’s Ministry of Coal started the online bidding for the Sarisatolli coal mine in the eastern state of West Bengal. But it did not generate heat in the energy-hungry nation, and the first bid came one hour and 37 minutes later from a conglomerate’s firm. Of the five companies that were eligible to compete, only one kept sparring with the firm. Another made a fleeting appearance once and the rest did not bid.
Three of those five bidders, including the winner, belonged to the same conglomerate, the RP-Sanjiv Goenka (RPSG) group, previously undisclosed internal documents of India’s top auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), reveal. The group is a $4bn-revenue conglomerate with interests in power, IT, education, retail and media.
