Govt sets India's coal production target at more than 1 billion tonnes for FY24

The Indian government has announced a production target of over one billion tonnes (BT) of coal for the upcoming financial year. The target has been divided among state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), which has been tasked with producing 780 million tonnes (MT), Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) with 75 MT, and 162 MT for captive and commercial mines.

"The ministry of coal targets to produce more than one billion tonne coal during the year 2023-24," the coal ministry said in a statement.

To achieve this goal, a thorough review was conducted by Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena with all coal companies. The review revealed that 290 mines are currently operational in CIL, with 97 of them producing more than one MT per year.

Issues related to land acquisition, forest clearance, environment clearance, rail connectivity, and road connectivity were discussed and addressed, with 56 of the mines having no pending issues.

Only 41 mines have 61 issues, for which continued co-ordination and monitoring is being carried out by top management of coal companies with concerned state government authorities and the central ministries.

CIL produced 622 MT of coal in the last financial year and is on track to surpass its target of 700 MT for this fiscal year. CIL accounts for over 80% of domestic coal production.

It is anticipated that CIL will exceed the 700 MT goal set for the current fiscal year and, as a result, will reach 780 MT for the year 2023–2024.

More than 80% of the domestic coal production is attributed to CIL.

(With inputs from PTI)