Coal India Limited (CIL) and Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) today inked a pact to form a joint venture company for manufacturing bulk explosives used in mines.
The move would be to the advantage of CIL, with coal production poised to ramp up in the coming years and with majority of the coal output coming from open cast (OC) mines where the explosives would be used.
A CIL statement, without disclosing investment in the project, said efforts were on to see that the manufacturing units of the JV go operational by March 2017.
CIL is the largest user of bulk explosives in the country, consuming about 5.5 lakh metric tonnes on an annual basis.
IOCL currently operates 12 bulk explosive manufacturing units, of which eight units exclusively cater to CIL's requirements.
In terms of supply, IOCL caters to around 25 per cent of CIL's entire bulk explosive requirement, the statement said.
