CIL's coal supply to power sector dips 3 per cent in April-September

New Delhi: State run miner CIL's coal supply to power sector declined by 2.9 per cent to 184.9 million tonnes (MT) in the first six months of the current fiscal even as demand for the fossil fuel has started picking up.

The dispatch of dry fuel by Coal India (CIL) in the corresponding period of FY'16 was at 190.6 MT, government data said. In September, CIL's coal supply declined by 11.4 per cent 27.1 MT as against 30.6 MT in the same month last fiscal, the data said.

Coal supply by Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) during April-September period declined by 3.4 percent to 22.2 MT compared to 23 MT in the corresponding period of previous fiscal, according to the data.

SCCL is a government coal mining company jointly owned by Telangana and the Centre on a 51:49 equity basis. Coal Secretary Anil Swarup had said last month there were no plans to cut down output because the demand has already picked up now.

In October, the demand has started picking up for both coal and power sectors, the secretary had said. CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, is eyeing 598 MT production in 2016-17. CIL has a target to produce one billion tonnes of fossil fuel by 2020.