BHARATCOAL

Adds details throughout

By Vivek Kumar M and Urvi Dugar

BENGALURU, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Shares of Bharat Coking Coal BARC.NS, India's top coking coal miner, soared as much as 96% in their market debut on Monday, buoyed by optimism around the country's steel sector.

The stock pared some of its gains to trade 83.4% higher at 42.19 rupees as of 10:26 a.m. IST on the National Stock Exchange of India, valuing the company at 196.48 billion rupees ($2.16 billion).

The shares listed at 45 rupees, compared to the issue price of 23 rupees. The benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI was down 0.6% on the day.

The company, which produces coking coal - a key steelmaking raw material - is a unit of government-owned Coal India COAL.NS, one of the world's largest coal producers. This is India's first mainboard listing of 2026.

"A combination of things like lower ticket price, reasonable valuations and strong parentage of Coal India have driven the surge in stock," said Sunny Agrawal, head of fundamental equity research at SBICAPS Securities.

"One can look at Bharat Coking Coal as a proxy player for steelmakers, which currently enjoy a strong business outlook," Agrawal added.

The $118.7-million IPO drew bids worth $13 billion last week, making it one of the most heavily subscribed state-run offerings in recent years.

India ranked as the world's second-largest primary market in 2025 after the United States, according to LSEG data.

Bharat Coking Coal's stellar listing reflects its strategic importance in India's steel and metallurgical coal supply chain, said Shivani Nyati, head of wealth at Swastika Investmart.

The company plans to acquire coking coal mines in Australia and Russia in the next two to three years, its Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Agarwal told Reuters last week.

($1 = 90.7910 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Sonia Cheema)

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By Hritam Mukherjee and Neha Arora

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Coal India COAL.NS is scouting partnership opportunities in rare-earth mining across Australia, Russia, Argentina, Chile and several African countries, a top executive of its coking coal-focussed unit said on Thursday, as New Delhi looks to reduce reliance on China-dominated supply chains.

The move comes after top producer China expanded export curbs on rare-earth minerals late last year, threatening operations in sectors from autos to electronics that depend on the critical materials.

"In our country and in foreign countries also, we are going to invest; we are going to explore; we are also collaborating with other companies for rare earth metals. It is in the starting stage," Bharat Coking Coal Ltd BARC.NS Chairman and Managing Director Manoj Kumar Agarwal told Reuters in an interview.

Coal India is pursuing both overseas and local opportunities in this regard, and domestically aims to collaborate with state-run IREL, Khanij Bidesh India Ltd and Hindustan Copper HCPR.NS, Agarwal said.

The partnerships will be funded using proceeds from BCCL's $119 million initial public offering, which closed Tuesday after being oversubscribed nearly 147 times. The company, whose offering comprised only existing shares with no new issuance, is set to list Monday.

BCCL also plans to acquire coking coal mines in Australia and Russia within the next two to three years, Agarwal added.

The company aims to raise its coking coal production capacity to 56 million tonnes per annum by fiscal 2030, up from 40.5 MTPA at the end of fiscal 2025, he added.

Investors are betting BCCL will benefit from India's infrastructure push, which requires steel as a pivotal industrial raw material. Coking coal is a key steel-making ingredient.

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru and Neha Arora in New Delhi; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

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