Coal production grows by 7.8 per cent in 2008-09, shortfall still remains

Though coal production in India grew by 7.8 per cent to 492.95 million tonnes (MT) in 2008-09 from 457.08 MT in 2007-08, the country had to resort to imports to meet shortfall, according to the Provisional Coal Statistics.

State-owned Coal India Limited (CIL), the country's largest coal mining company and Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), contributed 24 million tonnes  and 4 MT respectively to the 36 MT increase in production during 2008-09, while the rest 8 Mt came from captive blocks.

Coal production up to December 2009 was 365.088 MT, of which, 48.117 MT had been produced in December compared to 46.886 MT for the same period in the previous year, it said.

India had to resort to importing coal to meet shortfall and the country imported approximately 59 MT last year, comprising of 24 MT of coking coal from Australia and 35 MT of non-coking coal from Indonesia and South Africa.

Coking coal is used by the steel industry, while non-coking coal is used in power and cement sectors.

Meanwhile, the CIL approved on Saturday a plan to acquire equity interest in 15-20 coal mines in Australia, Indonesia and the US at a cost of approximately $2 billion (Rs9,280 crore).

The government plans to sell a 10 per cent stake in CIL as part of its plan to sell stakes in nearly 60 state-run companies in order to fund infrastructure projects, social welfare programmes and to partly fix the budget deficit.