Coal India Ltd. (CIL) has been directed by its board to withdraw from the five-way joint venture — International Coal Ventures Ltd — formed in May 2009 for overseas acquisition of coal assets. Available information suggested that matters would be taken forward after discussions with Coal Minister Piyush Goyal. While CIL and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) were the major partners with 28 per cent stake each, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, NMDC and NTPC were also partners in ICVL, holding 14 per cent each. The chairmen of CIL and SAIL remained tight-lipped on the issue. CIL said in a stock exchange filing that its board at its meeting last week had directed that it withdraw from ICVL. It may be mentioned that although ICVL was unable to make any headway since its formation, it tasted success, and in May, 2012, too the CIL board had favoured a withdrawal from ICVL, saying that the special purpose vehicle had failed to make headway.