India's dry fuel mining behemoth Coal India has logged a 27 percent jump in production this month till Thursday amid skyrocketing demand for the fuel.
Coal India produced 49.6 million tonnes (MT) of coal till April 28 and was expected to produce around 53 million tonnes in the entire month, which is likely to be the best ever compared to earlier years of the comparable month, according to sources.
"Coal production by Coal India Ltd (CIL) has increased by 27.2 per cent in April 2022 as compared to same period of last year and coal despatch has increased by 5.8 per cent," the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also informed that CIL has a coal stock of 56.7 MT at present. While the stock at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is at 4.3 MT, captive coal blocks have about 2.3 MT of stock. "Thus, sufficient coal stock with coal companies is available," it added.
The coal stock at good shed sidings, washery sidings and port is about 4.7 MT and it is ready to be moved to power plants immediately, the statement said. Besides, around 2 MT of coal stock is also available at the CIL sidings. The Indian Railways is fully geared to move this stock to power generation companies across the country. Besides, around 2 MT of coal stock is also available at the CIL sidings. The Indian Railways is fully geared to move this stock to power generation companies across the country.
"CIL has offered 5.75 MT coal to the state/central gencos and 5.3 MT of this coal has been agreed to be booked by the gencos," it said.
Some states are reeling under power shortage as demand has soared due to high temperatures and the early onset of summer. "April 2022 is likely to be the best ever production for Coal India compared to the same month of previous years. Against a production of 41.9 million tonnes in April 2021, till April 28 of the current month, the production has touched 49.6 million," one of the sources told PTI.
"Coal India is working hard to produce and supply more fuel to power plants with the support of Railways. In the current month railway rake loading is already higher by 7 per cent," another source said. Coal offtake till April 28 was 53.6 million tonnes while in April 2021 total despatch was 54.1 million tonnes. The miner had been focusing on production and investing heavily into output and evacuation infrastructure.
The capex was Rs 14,834 crore up 12 percent in FY'22. The output in the last fiscal was 622 million tonnes.
