Kolkata, April 16 (IANS) Public sector Coal India Limited (CIL) will sign a fuel supply agreement (FSA) with power companies by April 20, a top official said Monday.

The government on April 3 had issued a presidential directive to CIL to commit a minimum assured fuel supply to the power producers, failing which the company would be subject to paying a penalty.

In view of the directive, a CIL board meeting took place here.

One of the main agenda of today's meeting is to implement the government's directive (on committing a minimum assured fuel supply to the power producers)... We have agreed on a document. The FSA will be signed before April 20, acting chairperson and managing director Zohra Chatterji told reporters.

On penalty clause for not meeting the agreement, Chatterji said: We have decided to keep it at a minimum. And it should be operational after three years.

The penalty will be 0.01 percent of the value below the value of 80 percent of the assured amount of coal supply, said.