Birla's name significantly surfaced in Indian coal allocation scam, an infamous political scandal that traced its origin to the illegal allocation of coal blocks between 2004 and 2009. Central Bureau of Investigation, in 2013, accused Birla of "influencing the then coal secretary in getting the block, Talabira II in Orissa, allocated to Hindalco, when its was meant only for allocation to public sector firms. The investigative agency said that the block was allocated to Neyveli Lignite and Mahanadi Coalfields (both PSUs) in 2005 but sometime in the middle of the year Birla met Parekh after which the earlier decision of the screening committee was overturned and Hindalco was also accommodated along with the two. This led to notional loss to the exchequer." Forbes report said that the CBI report's remarks on Birla's alleged involvement led to a sharp fall in shares of Birla's companies. Hindalco "lost 5% before recovering." However, the then ruling government's leader Digvijaya Singh told The Economic Times that Birla has been "the most clean corporate leader" who has never known to be a fly-by-night operator.