India’s coal production records double-digit growth to scale record high
India’s coal production surged by 11.7 percent, reaching a record 997.83 million tonnes for the financial year ending March 31, 2024, according to G Kishan Reddy, Minister of Coal and Mines.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Reddy highlighted the government’s commitment to boosting domestic coal output to reduce reliance on non-essential coal imports. He noted that coal production has steadily increased over the past four years, rising from 730.9 million tonnes in 2019-20.
“The double-digit increase has been carried over to the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year with a growth of 10.75 percent to 247.396 MT,” the minister said.
He said that the steps taken by the government to step up coal production in the country include a single window clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up the operationalization of coal mines.
As part of the new reforms, an auction of commercial mining on a revenue-sharing basis was launched in 2020.
“Under the commercial mining scheme, a rebate of 50 percent on the final offer has been allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than the scheduled date of production,” he said.
The minister added that the incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of 50 percent on final offer) have also been granted.
“The terms of commercial coal mining too have been liberalized with no restriction on utilization of coal, which has allowed new companies to participate in the bidding process,” the minister explained.
He said that coal companies including the country’s largest producer Coal India Ltd have also taken various steps to increase domestic coal production such as the adoption of mass production technologies.
“It has also been using state-of-the-art technology in its high-capacity excavators, dumpers, and surface miners. Besides, Coal India is planning large capacity UG mines wherever feasible,” the minister added.
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