India's coal output rises 8.67% to record 73.02 mn tonnes in April

India's coal production rose 8.67 per cent year-on-year to record 73.02 million tonnes in April this year.

"India's coal production has made a new record of the highest production during the month of April 2023, achieving 73.02 million tonnes (MT) of coal with a growth of 8.67 per cent as compared to 67.20 MT during April 2022," a coal ministry statement said.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) reported production of 57.57 MT in April 2023 compared to 53.47 MT in Apr 2022, representing an increase of 7.67 per cent, it added.

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The Ministry of Coal has paved the way for releasing additional coal in the market by greater utilisation of mining capacities of captive/private coal blocks, which has led to an increase in coal production by 17.52 per cent to 9.88 MT (provisional figure) in April 2023 compared to 8.41 MT in April 2022.

The total coal despatch (supply) has registered a growth of 11.76 per cent -- from 71.99 MT in April 2022 to 80.45 MT in April 2023.

This is mainly due to the initiatives taken by the ministry to augment rail connectivity infrastructure for all major mines under PM Gati Shakti to ensure faster evacuation.

With an objective to enhance coal availability, the coal ministry has offered 103 coal/lignite blocks for auction under the 7th round of auction, and 29 agreements have been signed for mines, which were auctioned in the 6th round of auction.

The cumulative PRC of 29 coal mines is 74 million tonnes per annum.

PRC pertains to the maximum production capacity of a coal mine, or in other words, the maximum quantity of coal which can be mined from it annually.

The government's initiatives to increase domestic production would lower dependence on imported coal and would result in considerable savings of foreign exchange, it stated.