Part D auctions: Two bidders can advance to second round

The Centre has amended the Mineral (Auction) Rules, 2015 to allow auctions for minerals listed in Part D of the governing law’s First Schedule to proceed to a second round with two technically qualified bidders, according to the English text of a Ministry of Mines notification dated 16 October 2026. The notification also changes three numerical references in rule 19E from three to two.

Issued as G.S.R. 898(E), the Mineral (Auction) Third Amendment Rules, 2026 take effect on publication in the Official Gazette. The ministry made the amendments under section 13 of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, the statutory power cited for making these rules.

The changes concern which bidders can advance through the auction process. However, the notification’s English and Hindi texts differ on the condition for cancelling a first auction attempt, a distinction that matters for auctions attracting fewer than two technically qualified bidders.

How the Part D auction provisions change

The ministry has inserted provisions into rule 9 specifically for auctions of minerals listed in Part D of the Act’s First Schedule. That schedule reference defines the scope of these additions; the notification does not extend them to every mineral auction.

Under the addition to rule 9(8), where the number of technically qualified bidders is between two and five, all must be treated as qualified bidders. These are separate procedural categories: technical qualification is an initial screening stage, while qualified bidders are those admitted to the next bidding stage.

The addition to rule 9(9) directs an auction to proceed to the second round when there are at least two technically qualified bidders. The ministry retains the reference to the procedure in clauses (i) to (iii) of that sub-rule rather than setting out a replacement second-round process.

In the English text of the addition to rule 9(10), fewer than two technically qualified bidders means none can be considered a qualified bidder and the first auction attempt must be annulled, or cancelled. On that wording, a single technically qualified bidder is insufficient for the first attempt to continue.

The earlier auction framework

The Ministry of Mines’ notification of 30 November 2017 provides a historical comparison. It set out a rule 9 framework in which three or more technically qualified bidders were required for the auction to advance to the second round, while fewer than three required cancellation of the first attempt.

That notification also provided that all technically qualified bidders would advance where their number was between three and five. The October notification adds a separate two-to-five provision for Part D minerals rather than replacing that earlier proviso outright.

The 2017 text explains the distinction between screening and competitive bidding. A technically qualified bidder had to meet the eligibility conditions and submit an initial price offer at least equal to the reserve price. The highest initial offer then became the floor price for the second round.

Under the second-round procedure set out in that notification, qualified bidders could submit final offers above the floor price. If no final offer was submitted, the auction process was cancelled; the bidder making the highest final offer was declared the preferred bidder.

This history also distinguishes a second round from a second attempt. The 2017 notification described each auction attempt as containing a first and second round. A second attempt followed cancellation of the first attempt; it was not simply the next bidding stage within the same attempt.

Separate changes to rule 19E

The October notification makes three targeted substitutions in rule 19E: in the first proviso to sub-rule (9), in sub-rule (10), and in sub-rule (11), it replaces the word “three” with “two”. Unlike the rule 9 additions, these instructions do not repeat a Part D limitation.

The amendment does not reproduce those sub-rules in full. Its text establishes the numerical substitutions, but does not itself provide a complete account of the surrounding rule 19E procedure.

For broader context, the Indian Bureau of Mines’ compilation of the rules, amended up to 29 January 2026, describes mining-lease bidding as a percentage of the value of mineral despatched. The reserve price is the minimum percentage specified in the tender, rather than a fixed purchase price for the mineral block. That compilation predates the October amendment.

Cancellation wording differs between languages

The bilingual notification contains a consequential discrepancy in the new rule 9(10) proviso. Its English text requires cancellation when the number of technically qualified bidders is “less than two”. The corresponding Hindi wording means “not less than two” in translation.

Those formulations point in opposite directions. The English wording is consistent with the neighbouring provision allowing the second round to proceed with two or more technically qualified bidders. The Hindi wording would overlap with that permission.

The notification contains no clarification resolving this difference. The unresolved issue is the cancellation condition in rule 9(10), not the separately stated two-bidder provision for advancing to the second round.