New Delhi: While announcing that coal despatch figures for FY2023-24 so far have already touched a record high of 500 Million Tonnes (MT), the Coal Ministry said that it is expecting the figure to breach the 1-Billion-Tonne (BT) mark by the end of this financial year. The milestone, if reached, will be the first of its kind. The government has put a lot of focus on increasing coal production as India needs more coal to meet its power demand. Around 80 percent of the coal produced by India’s largest coal miner, Coal India Ltd (CIL), is supplied to the power sector. During the financial year 2023-24, the Coal Ministry has set a target to produce and despatch 1,012 MT of coal to consumers.
“Achieving record high performance, the ministry has been able to despatch 500 MT coal as on 17th October 2023. Despatch of 500 MT of coal in 200 days, despite monsoon season, in first half of the year, is an outstanding achievement,” said the Ministry of Coal on Thursday.
During the second half of the year, the rate of coal production and despatch is normally higher than the first half of the year. “It is, therefore, expected that this year, the despatch of coal would exceed the one-billion-tonne mark. During the last financial year, 500 MT coal despatch milestone was achieved by 9th November 2022. Thus, during the current year, 500 MT despatch mark has been achieved 23 days in advance,” said the Coal Ministry.
Out of 500 MT of coal despatch, 416.57 MT despatch is to the power sector and 84.77 MT is for the non-regulatory sector (NRS). The growth of coal transport to the power sector year-to-year is 7.27 percent and the growth to the non-regulated sector year-to-year is 38.02 percent. Last year, as on 31st March, 2023, 893.19 million tonnes of coal was dispatched.
“It is to be highlighted that Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and captive/commercial mines all have contributed to this historical achievement of the Coal Ministry,” said the ministry.
