BHUBANESWAR - India will soon get a coal index to track the coal price movement in the country.

India’s leading e-commerce company Mjunction Services Ltd will launch the index in the second week of July, a company official said Tuesday.

“A present there is no credible price index to track coal prices in the country. There are four coal indexes all over the world. Soon we are going to get one,” Viresh Oberoi, managing director and chief executive of Mjunction (formerly Metal Junction), told IANS here.

The four existing coal indexes are: South African Richards Bay Coal - API-4, Australian New Castle Coal - API-3, Japan Power Utility Index and ACR Asian Index.

At present, nobody has a clear idea about the price movement. Once the index is launched, it would give crucial information about prices to those who want to trade in future contracts, he said.

“We will track the coal prices scientifically and publish it on our website as MJ Coal Index for the benefit of buyers, traders and industry at large,” Oberoi said.

“At present, there are 440 varieties of coal available in India. With no scientific method to track the price movement it is difficult for the Indian buyers to hedge their risk against coal price volatility,” he added.

The index would be calculated on the basis of weighted price average of coal computed from the price of different grades of coal tendered at various coal mines across the country.

“It would reduce the role of middlemen in the business and help buyers know the right prices of coal,” he said.