Coal India plans to venture into power biz: Sources

State-run Coal India (CIL) plans to enter into power generation business, exclusive sources told CNBC-TV18.  Though the plan is at a preliminary stage, CIL may consider installing 1,200-1,500 megawatt capacity initially.

Meanwhile, there are reports that CIL may install GPS based tracking of transportation of coal by March 31, 2014.Tenders have been floated for the purpose.

According to sources, CIL plans to cover all major projects (mines) under the GPS-based movement tracking system after the Coal Ministry encouraged it for the same. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier said that coal companies have been slow in implementing mechanisation in the mines.

The ministry had suggested the system for all mines to prevent theft of coal and increase productivity. CIL had suggested that GPS system is one of the tools to achieve this goal.

A couple of years ago, an internal study by CIL showed that losses could run over Rs 50,000 if a 170-tonne truck at any of CIL mines remained idle for half-an-hour. This figure would be double if the truck was of 240 tonnes capacity.

CIL missed its production target and produced 452.5 million tonne (MT) in 2012-13. Its output target was 464 MT in FY'13. The Coal ministry has set a production target of 482 MT and off-take of 492 MT for CIL for fiscal 2013-14.

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