Top coal miner seeks loans as lockdown saps payments

Bharat Coking Coal, a unit of Coal India, the world’s largest producer, is planning a debt-raising to meet expenses, after payment curtailments by power generators led to a cash-squeeze, according to people familiar with development.

The company, based in eastern Indian state of Jharkhand, is in talks with a group of banks to raise as much as seven-billion rupees in bridge loans to keep operations going, the people said, asking not to be named as the talks are still private.

Bharat Coking wasn’t immediately able to respond to requests for a comment.