India to require 884.87 mt of coal in 2016-17: Government

India's annual coal requirement for the current fiscal ending March 2017 has been pegged at 884.87 million tonnes (mt).

"Niti Aayog carries out an annual assessment of requirement of coal for the country. This assessment has been done for the period up to 2016-17 wherein the demand for coal has been assessed at 884.87 mt," Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

The demand of coal is not estimated separately for state and Union Territories, he added.

The steps taken by the government to increase domestic production include efforts to expedite Environment Clearances and Forest Clearances, pursuing with the state government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated effort with the Railways for movement of coal, he said.

"A road map has been prepared by Coal India (CIL) to substantially enhance production of coal by 2019-20. This includes capacity addition from new projects, use of mass production technologies and identification of existing ongoing projects with growth potential," Goyal added.

In a separate query, the minister said the total coal produced in the country during 2015-16 was to the tune of 639.23 mt.

To another question, Goyal informed the House that under provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, 83 coal mines (31 by way of auction and 52 by allotment) have been allocated so far.

Out of these, 30 coal mines for utilisation in specified end-uses -- power (regulated sector) and iron and steel, cement, captive power production (non-regulated sector) have been allotted to private sector entities who participated in the three tranches of e-auction of these coal mines, he added.

An amount of Rs 444.67 crore has been invested by the successful bidders of private sector entities towards payment of cost of land and mine infrastructure, he said.

"The government does not keep details of private sector investments post allocation of the mines. From these 30 coal mines allotted to private sector entities, revenue generated (excluding royalty, cess and taxes) till October, 2016, is Rs 1,430.34 crore, which includes Rs 848.15 crore of e-auction proceeds and Rs 582.19 crore of upfront payment," he said.

Mining operations have commenced and mine opening permission has been granted in 11 coal mines and 9.559 mt (provisional) of coal has been produced since commencement of mining operations, the minister said.