India pressed to investigate $34bn loss in coal sales

The Indian Government is under pressure to explain why a sale of state owned coal fields was carried out without any competitive bidding, a process that led to windfall profits of $34 billion, in total, for some companies.

The country's official auditor has claimed that between 2004 and 2009 power companies made undue gains from the national distribution of coal fields., a policy that left the government nursing huge losses.

The BBC's Sameer Hashmi reports that the auditor believes an auction of the state owned coal fields should have been held.