Coal India Ltd Dispatched 291.72 Million Ton during April-October 2021

Due to increased demand of power, less power generation by imported coal based power plants and some interruption in supply of coal due to heavy rains, the coal stock at the power plants depleted to 7.2 Million Tonne (MT) (sufficient for 4 days) as on 8^th October, 2021. Subsequently with increased coal supplies, the coal stock has started increasing and has now reached 17.29 MT (sufficient for 9 days) as on 29.11.2021. Coal India Limited (CIL) has dispatched around 54 MT more coal during April – October’21 in comparison to the same period of last year. CIL has dispatched 291.72 MT coal during this period, against 237.75 MT during the same period of last fiscal. Thus, there is no shortage of coal in the thermal power plants in the country. The Country wise coal Import during the current financial year is as under:-

Steps taken to improve coal supplies for meeting increased demand in the country are as follows:

i. In order to address the issues of coal supplies to power sector, an Inter-Ministerial Sub-Group comprising of representatives from Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways, Central Electricity Authority (CEA), CIL and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) meet regularly to take various operational decisions to enhance supply of coal to thermal power plants as well as for meeting any contingent situations relating to power sector including critical coal stock position in power plants.

ii. CIL had offered about 5.2 MT of additional coal from its various subsidiaries to States, Central Gencos for lifting through Rail cum Road (RCR)/ Road Mode.

iii. In addition to Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ), coal has been offered under RCR mode on ‘as is where is basis’ to build up stock at Power house end.

iv. The Ministry of Coal has amended Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 with a view to encourage domestic coal production enhancement from captive mines by allowing sale of coal or lignite, on payment of additional amount, by the lessee of a captive mine up to 50 percent of the total coal or lignite produced in a financial year, after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with the mine. Earlier this year, the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act had been amended to this effect. This is applicable for both the private and public sector captive mines. With this amendment, the Government has paved the way for releasing of additional coal in the market by greater utilization of mining capacities of captive coal and lignite blocks, which were being only partly utilized owing to limited production of coal for meeting their captive needs.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has been directed to achieve 1 BT coal production by 2023-24 with a required compound average growth rate (CAGR ) of 10.95%.

Details of raw coal production trend and average growth of CIL during last five years is given below.

(in million tonnes)

All India coal production target for 2020-21 was 828.50 MT against which 716.08 Mt was produced. During this period, coal production declined by 2% as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The decline in coal production is largely due to land acquisition, R&R issues, encroachment issues, delay in Forestry and Environmental Clearances, Evacuation & logistics constraints, Law & Order problems and heavy rainfall witnessed in the coal mining areas in the current year which was around 25% more than the previous year. Further, rains also continued during the month of October. However, the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19 resulted in subdued demand of coal by power and non-power sector which adversely affected coal despatch. Coal production was regulated due to high pithead coal stock, availability of coal stock at power houses end and less offtake.

As per CEA report, as on 28/02/2021, coal stock with power plants was 31.91 million tones, equivalent to consumption of 17 days.

Steps to Enhance Coal Production and Bridge the gap between Demand and Supply

With a view to increase domestic coal exploration, Government has implemented Central sector scheme (CSS) for exploration of coal and lignite resources. The following action has been taken by Government to further enhance the production of the coal and bridge the gap between demand and supply of coal in the country:

1. Auction of commercial mining on Revenue Sharing Mechanism was launched on 18.06.2020. Under this scheme, total of 2 tranches have been successfully completed. From these two tranches total of 28 coal mines have been successfully auctioned.
2. The Ministry of Coal has amended Mineral Concession Rules, 1960 with a view to allowing sale of coal or lignite, on payment of additional amount, by the lessee of a captive mine up to 50 percent of the total coal or lignite produced in a financial year, after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with the mine.
3. Single Window Clearance portal has been launched on 11.01.2021. It is an unified platform that facilitates grant of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India.
4. Coal India Ltd. has envisaged 15 Projects identified with a Capacity of about 160 MTPA (Million Tonnes per Annum) to be operated by Mine Developer cum Operator mode.
5. Increasing domestic production of coal through allocation of more coal blocks.

With a view to increase coking coal production in the Country, Coking Coal Mission has been launched by the Government with the production target of 170 MT by FY 2029-30 from the current level of 45 Million Tonnes (approx.) produced in 2020-21.