Coal India Ltd (CIL), recently asked by the Prime Minister to ensure supplies to the power sector even if it meant importing, on Friday said it was not in the business of imports.
Zohra Chatterji, officiating chairman and managing director, said, “We are not in the business of imports and have not yet received any direction from the coal ministry. Once the direction comes, we will look into other factors. We had tried to import several times earlier also, but it did not work out. Import is not our USP (unique selling proposition).” Chatterji holds dual charge, as acting chairman and additional secretary in the ministry of coal.
Early this week, the PM’s Office had issued a statement that the Kolkata-based giant had been told to ensure supply for 20 years to the power plants scheduled to be commissioned till March 2015, where the total capacity would be 50,000 Mw. The decision was taken after a delegation of power company majors, led by Ratan Tata and Anil Ambani, met the PM for relief on this front. The statement said the coal major would sign supply agreements specifying a penalty if the supply fell below 80 per cent of the commitment. Chatterji said, “We have to abide by the rules, if a directive comes. To import, demand should be there.” She says CIL is confident of meeting the power sector demand. “Offtake will increase. The availability of (railway) rakes have touched an all-time high of 197 now. It is expected to touch 205 by March,” Chatterji said.
CIL, whose cash reserve is Rs 55,000 crore, is to invest in infrastructure projects, based on directions from the Centre. In four to five years, CIL is planning to invest about Rs 6,000 crore to develop railway lines across three states. A K Sinha, director (finance), said: “As we have enough cash reserve, the Centre has asked us to invest in infrastructural projects. We will be developing railway lines across three states — Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh — in the next four to five years. This will see an investment of more than Rs 6,000 crore.”
According to a senior company official, the investment will come for the Tori-Shibpur-Hazaribagh, McCluskieganj-Piparwar (Jharkhand), Angul-Kalinga, Jharsuguda-Saldanha (Orissa) and Barud-Anuppur and Barud-Bhubdebpur lines in Chhattisgarh. The projects are expected to cover about 500 km. Some of the lines would connect coalfields in the Ib Valley, North Karanpura and Mand-Raigarh. CIL’s plan is to handle about 300 million tonnes through these routes.
Plans are also afoot to form a special purpose vehicle for the Chhattisgarh projects — in which Steel Authority of India and public sector undertakings in the region are likely to participate. “Talks will start in March,” Sinha said.
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Added Chatterji: “The ministry has also asked us to go aggressively on our investment plans. Rather than focusing on the business of imports, we will focus on increasing the production and the firm is expected to cross last year’s level this year.”
During the 12th five-year Plan, expenditure is expected to be about Rs 25,000 crore. Coal India’s proposed capital expenditure in the country for the next financial year is Rs 4,275 crore, and Rs 4,220 crore in the current one, excluding the Rs 6,000 crore it had kept for acquisitions abroad.