Coal production up 12 pc in FY24

Till January 2024, domestic coal production has increased by around 12.11 per cent compared to the same period of last year.

In FY23, coal production had increased by 14.77 per cent from 778.21 million tonnes in FY22 to 893 million tonnes in FY23. In FY21 the country had produced 716 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the exports of coal have come down from 2.945 million tonnes in FY21 to 1.316 million tonnes in FY22 and further down to 1.166 million tonnes in FY23. In FY24 till November, it stood at 0.78 million tonnes.

According to the government, it wants to increase the domestic production of coal and reduce the import of coal. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2021 enables captive mine owners to sell up to 50 per cent of their annual mineral, including coal, production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end-use plant linked with the mine in such manner as may be prescribed by the central government on payment of such additional amount.

A single Window Clearance portal has been set up for the coal sector to speed up the operationalization of coal mines. Under the commercial mining scheme, rebates of 50 per cent on the final offer would be allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than the scheduled date of production. Incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction have been granted.

Terms and conditions of commercial coal mining are very liberal with no restriction on utilization of coal, allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against monthly payment, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route and revenue sharing model based on the National Coal Index.