In a move that could bring some respite to commodity players like cement, steel and the power sector, union coal ministry has decided not to raise prices of coal in 2008.

Mr Santosh Bagrodia union minister of state for coal said that "The government wants to maintain the price. There will not be any increase in prices of coal this year."

Mr Ranganath director marketing of Coal India Limited said that "We will put more and more coal in the market so that the supply is consistent with demand and eventually maintain the prices. We want to hold the prices as we have sufficient volumes to take care of our bottom line."

Mr Ranganath said that CIL would assess the market conditions and if supplies are absorbed, would further add to the volumes on e auction. He added that it is looking to e auction 40 million tonnes of coal in 2008-09.

Besides, the government has increased the amount of coal on e auction 5 times to 15 million tonnes per month from May 2008, from 3 million tonnes of thermal and non coking coal till April 2008.