Amid lowered demand and an extended monsoon that slumped coal production, Coal India Limited (CIL) is hopeful of meeting its production target in the current fiscal year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 59th Foundation Day of Hindustan Copper Ltd, CIL’s Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD), Sanoj Kumar Jha, said on Sunday that despite missing its production target in the last two months, Coal India will aspire to reach its production target of 875 MT in the current fiscal year or at least reach close to the figure.
“We will have more stocks at the end of the year than we had last time,” he said, while acknowledging that the state-owned ‘maharatna firm’ missed its production target in September and October primary because of the monsoon rains.
“Coal demand has been very sluggish and demand from the power sector has gone down,” he added.
Coal India, which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output, has a production target of 875 MT and a dispatch target of 900 MT for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
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While CIL’s production declined 9.8 per cent to 56.4 MT in October, in September the output of the firm dropped to 48.97 MT.
“Today I can’t say that we will not meet (the production target); neither can I say that we will meet the target. But, we will aspire that we will be able to be there or near there,” said Jha, who is also the Coal Additional Secretary, and took charge as CMD of CIL on November 1.
Assuring that the company will meet the energy requirements of the industry, Jha added that in the next six months, regulations on the proposed coal exchange will also be in place.
Additionally, the CMD of Hindustan Copper Ltd, Sanjiv Kumar Singh, who also addressed the event, said the company is expanding its capacity to meet the country’s rising demand for copper.
The state-owned firm is targeting to ramp-up its ore production capacity from the current 4 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 12 MTPA by 2030-31, he said.
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