EconomyCompanies
Coal India files final papers for Mahanadi Coalfields IPO, a 10% sale of 66.18 crore shares
The offer is entirely a sale by the parent, so the Odisha miner gets no money from it. Price band and dates are still to be announced, with reports pointing to an opening next week.
Key points
- Coal India has filed the red herring prospectus for an offer of up to 66.18 crore shares, about 10% of Mahanadi Coalfields.
- It is entirely an offer for sale: all proceeds go to Coal India, none to the subsidiary.
- The unit earned ₹10,698 crore profit in FY26 on ₹30,550 crore revenue, both slightly lower than a year earlier.
Coal India has filed the final offer document for the initial public offering of its wholly owned subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, setting up the sale of up to 10% of the Odisha miner to the public. The red herring prospectus, dated November 13, 2026, went to SEBI, the Registrar of Companies, BSE and NSE, and the parent told the exchanges about it the same day, according to reports.
The offer covers up to 66.18 crore equity shares of ₹2 face value, or 66,18,36,300 shares to be exact. It is entirely an offer for sale, with no fresh issue. Coal India is the only seller, so every rupee raised goes to the parent and Mahanadi Coalfields itself receives nothing. Coal India will keep about 90% of the company after the sale.
What is still to come
The company has not yet announced the price band, the lot size, the opening and closing dates or the listing date. Reports say the issue could open as early as next week and could raise about ₹9,500 crore, or $1 billion, at a valuation of up to $10 billion. Neither figure has been confirmed by the company, and both depend on the price the book-building sets.
The same reports put the reservation at not more than 50% for qualified institutional buyers, at least 15% for non-institutional investors and at least 35% for retail investors. Shares are proposed to be listed on both exchanges.
How it got here
Mahanadi Coalfields filed its draft red herring prospectus with SEBI on August 31, 2026. The regulator issued its observations on the draft on November 4, 2026, which is the clearance a company needs before it can launch an issue. The final document followed nine days later.
The lead managers are SBI Capital Markets and four others: Axis Capital, BOB Capital Markets, IDBI Capital Markets and Securities, and IIFL Capital Services, with KFin Technologies as registrar.
What the company is
Mahanadi Coalfields was incorporated on April 3, 1992, when it was carved out of South Eastern Coalfields. It mines non-coking coal in the Talcher and Ib Valley coalfields of Odisha and sells mainly to power producers, captive plants, cement makers and sponge iron units. It has held Miniratna Category I status since December 2019.
As of June 30, 2026, it ran 17 mines, 14 of them open-cast and three underground. In FY26 it produced 218.31 million tonnes, which the offer papers put at about 22.4% of India’s non-coking coal output and 28.3% of Coal India’s total production. Its audited reserves stand at 9,840.31 million tonnes, enough for about 45 years at the FY26 rate of output, according to the draft document.
The numbers investors will see
Revenue from operations was ₹31,634.35 crore in FY24, ₹31,353.02 crore in FY25 and ₹30,549.59 crore in FY26, a fall of about 2.6% in the latest year. Profit after tax went from ₹11,841.55 crore to ₹10,825.12 crore and then to ₹10,698.12 crore, down about 1.2% in FY26. Production slipped from 225.17 million tonnes in FY25 to 218.31 million tonnes in FY26.
The business is very profitable on paper: the FY26 profit is about 35% of revenue. The most recent quarter, April to June 2026, showed a 6.4% rise in revenue to ₹8,033.77 crore from ₹7,548.37 crore a year earlier, while profit after tax eased to ₹2,398.78 crore from ₹2,448.33 crore.
Mahanadi Coalfields at a glance
- 66.18 croreshares on offer, about 10% of the company
- ₹10,698 croreprofit after tax in FY26
- 17mines, 14 open-cast and 3 underground
- 45 yearsof production covered by audited reserves
Risks the prospectus flags
The draft names the usual risks for a coal company: demand and pricing for coal, tightening environmental rules and the long-term shift of power generation towards renewables. It also points out that because the issue is an offer for sale, the company gets no fresh capital to fund expansion. The final valuation is yet to be fixed.
Why it matters
For investors, the offer gives retail buyers direct access to a unit that produces more than a fifth of India’s non-coking coal, with at least 35% of the issue reportedly set aside for them. For Coal India, whose own shares we covered when they hit a record on strong October output, it is a way to raise about ₹9,500 crore, if the reported size holds, without selling anything in the parent. Because the money goes to the parent and not the mine operator, Mahanadi Coalfields’ own expansion plans are not funded by the issue.
What happens next
The next step is the announcement of the price band and the opening date, which Coal India and the lead managers are expected to make before the issue opens, possibly in the coming week. The exchanges are shut today, a Saturday, and reopen on Monday, November 16, 2026. The pipeline of large offers has been busy since October, as in the Cult Fit SEBI approval.