Coal India's production increases by 8% during the first quarter

The Union Ministry of Power has mandated the import of coal for blending at thermal power plants to continue till October 2024

National miner Coal India Limited (CIL) posted 8 per cent growth in coal production during the first quarter of the current financial year (FY25). Coal production during the quarter ending June stood at 189.3 million tonnes (MT), the company said in a statement on Monday.

“While all the seven producing arms of CIL achieved positive growth, five of them breached their respective targets. CIL’s output for the month of June 2024 rose to 63 MT, growing by around 9 per cent over the production in the same month last year,” CIL said.

Citing strong production growth and increased coal loading, CIL said its total coal supply shot up to 198.4 MT during April-June 2024 with 6 per cent year-on-year growth. "At a time when power demand in the country is spiking up, CIL’s supplies to coal-fired plants grew by 4 per cent to 160 MT during Q1FY25, with a year-on-year jump of 6 MT. CIL’s off-take to thermal power plants was 154 MT in the same period of FY24,” CIL said.

 

CIL’s supplies to the non-power sector at 38.4 MT, logging a 16 per cent growth during the referred period, were an all-time high for Q1 of any year to date. The supply to the sector was 33 MT during April-June 2023.

Mandated coal import to continue till Oct

The Union Ministry of Power has mandated that import of coal for blending at thermal power plants will continue till October 2024. In a notification issued on Friday last, the ministry said despite significant growth in supply of domestic coal, there is still a gap.

It also pointed out that during monsoon months, supply of coal declines due to less rake loading and closure of mines. “The Ministry of Power has, therefore, decided to extend the advisory dated March 4, 2024 by modifying the blending requirement to 4 per cent till October 15, 2024,” the notice said. The blending share was 6 per cent earlier. The mandate is for all domestic coal-run units, except those in 20 km vicinity of mines.