Coal India on Tuesday said it has registered a double-digit production growth of 10.7 per cent in January.
The company as a whole has been averaging close to 2 MT per day coal output during the month, it said in a BSE filing.
"Coal India Ltd (CIL) clocked double-digit growth of 10.7 per cent in coal production for the month of January 2020, till 27th (January)," it said.
"CIL's production at 54.17 MT till January 27, was ahead by 5.23 MT in absolute terms on a like-to-like comparison of last year, registering a growth of 10.7 per cent, the first double-digit growth so far during the current fiscal," the filing said.
A company official said the production spurt came largely on the back of production in Mahanadi Coalfields and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) adding "by the end of January, production is likely to be up by another 8 MT."
Mahanadi Coalfields surged ahead with 21.5 per cent production growth, as of the referred date, followed by SECL with 14.4 per cent.
These are two of the largest producing subsidiaries of CIL, which together contribute close to half of CIL's total coal output.
Much to the relief of the company, Dipka opencast mine of SECL, the third largest coal producing mine of CIL, came back strongly in record time reaching one lakh tonne per day production.
Dipka's lower benches were flooded when a non-seasonal river broke the embankment and flooded the mine on September 29, 2019, it said.
"Coal offtake at 48.07 MT, as of 27th January 2020, registered a growth of 6.2 per cent compared to same date last January...," it said.
There is no shortage of coal in power plants, with a total of 65.66 MT currently available in the system, of which stock at CIL's pitheads is 31.41 MT.
Thermal power plants were adequately stocked with 34.25 MT of coal (as of January 26), sufficient for 19 days consumption, it said.
The current level of coal stock at power plants is 14.89 MT more than that of the year-ago level. In the year-ago period, it was 19.36 MT.
"Better management of supply logistics ensured that coal stock at various power stations was maintained throughout the year and the number of critical power plants never touched double-digit during 2019-20 as per CEA," the official said.
After almost three years, the number of NTPC plants and NTPC/JVS having super critical stock was down to zero.
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