(MENAFN- Arab News) NEW DELHI: India's top court canceled more than 200 government permits for coal mines and handed down fines worth hundreds of millions of dollars to some companies Wednesday after the licensing process was deemed illegal.

The ruling triggered a sharp slide on the stock market deepening the crisis in the mining sector which has been in turmoil since the government-run procedure for awarding the coal blocks between 1993 and 2009 had been declared illegal. After the Supreme Court's momentous ruling last month the coal industry had been fearing the worst from Wednesday's hearing.