The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, has given in-principle approval to a mechanism for price pooling of coal.

The mechanism involves blending the cost of domestic coal with the imported one to offset the high price.

Talking to reporters after the CCEA meeting, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari said, basic principles and parameters of pooling have been identified.

The Coal and Power ministries have been tasked to come up with specific data on the issue. The government has decided to sell 9.5 per

cent stake in power producer National Thermal Power Corporation , NTPC, tomorrow at a likely price of 145 rupees per share.

It plans to sell over 78.32 crore shares of the company. Currently it holds 84.50 per cent stake in NTPC. This price is nearly seven per cent discount to the current market price.

NTPC disinvestment the biggest so far this fiscal, is expected to garner about 12,000 crore rupees for the exchequer.

An Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday approved the sale of the stake.