Coal India registers 2.4% output growth, 32.6 MT short of target

9th April 2018

Coal India Ltd. (CIL) closed 2017-18 with an output of 567.4 million tonnes, which was 32.6 million tonnes short of the year’s target. The growth rate at 2.4 % was lower than the 2.9 % clocked in 2016-17. At least two coal subsidiaries closed the year with a negative growth rate.

Coal off-take (i.e. coal sales) at 580.3 million tonnes was higher than the output, reflecting a 6.8% growth rate against 1.6% a year ago. However, this too was lower than the 600 million target for the year. This availability, achieved through liquidation of inventories, was a record, according to a regulatory filing made by the PSU.

The company said that its power sector supplies rose by 7% to touch 454.3 million tonnes.

Negative growth

The coal companies with negative growth rates were Bharat Coking Coal Ltd. and Central Coalfields Ltd.

Nagpur-based Western Coalfields Ltd. achieved a low growth of 1.3% in 2017-18. CIL said that coal inventory stood at 55.5 million tonnes against last year’s 68.4 million tonnes.

CIL’s capital expenditure stood at ₹8,697 crore in 2017-18 against ₹8,500 crore a year ago. Five new projects with an annual capacity of 23.36 million tonnes and a sanctioned capital of ₹4,427.2 crore were approved in 2017-18.

Three CIL subsidiaries — Eastern Coalfields Ltd., BCCL and WCL — were allotted 11 new coal blocks, which would enable each of them to produce 100 million tonnes annually.

Amid the opening up of the commercial coal mining sector in India, CIL is trying to find its way forward through the preparation of a Vision 2030 document, which is now being finalised, the company said.

Source: THE HINDU