The Union government has set a coal production target of 1,193.39 Million Tonne (MT) for the financial year 2025-26, up 10.5 percent from the FY25 target of producing 1,080 MT of the fossil fuel in India, according to two senior officials in the Ministry of Coal.
"From the FY26 production target of 1,193.39 MT, at least 915 MT has to be produced by Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries, while 203.39 MT will be from captive-commercial coal mines. Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) is expected to produce 75 MT," said a senior ministry official who is not authorised to speak to the media. Moneycontrol has also reviewed the government document on the matter.
For the current fiscal (2024-25), coal production in India has been set at 1,080 MT, with state-run miner Coal India's target set at 838 MT. However, India may end the current financial year with some production shortfall due to heavy rainfall in key coal producing states in August and September. For example, CIL is likely to have a production shortfall of around 15 MT.
“Our target, though it was 838 MT...we have committed to the ministry (Coal Ministry) of around 822-823 million tonnes, less than 15-16 MT, because of various reasons of land, environmental and other clearances,” Coal India Chairman PM Prasad said at CIL's 50th Foundation Day on November 3.
India is stepping up coal-fired generation capacity as its peak electricity demand touched 250 GW on May 30 this year from a record 243 GW in 2023. Government officials expect electricity demand to surge to a high of 384 GW in 2031-2032.
Responding to a query by Moneycontrol, the Ministry of Coal said, "There is no coal shortage in the country. Most of the requirement of coal in the country is met through indigenous coal production. Focus of the government is on increasing the domestic production of coal and to eliminate non-essential coal import."
"The all-India domestic coal production in the year 2023-2024 was 997.83 MT in comparison to 893.19 MT in the year 2022-2023 with a growth of about 11.71 percent," it said.
On December 5, the Ministry of Coal launched the eleventh round of commercial coal mine auctions with a total of 27 coal blocks on offer. So far, 96 coal mines have been auctioned for commercial operations by the government. Out of these allocated 96 blocks, 12 blocks have got 'mine opening permission' and nine have started actual coal production, while the rest are under construction.
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