CIL H1 net up 29% at Rs 4,020 cr

Coal India (CIL) today reported a 29 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 4,020 crore for the first half of this financial year, compared to Rs 3,115 crore a year earlier.

For the six months through September, net sales rose 17 per cent to Rs 22,525.5 crore, against Rs 19,269.5 crore in the year-ago period.

The company's coal production increased 0.7 per cent to 185.7 million tonnes (mt), compared to 184.4 mt last year. However, the production figure was nine per cent lower than the company's target of 203.95 mt for this period.

CIL Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya said the reasons for not meeting the production target were less offtake and some environmental issues. "The company ended 2009-10 with a stock of 63 mt. So, to dispatch coal is better than meeting the production target. If offtake augments, production can also rise."

A regulation by the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF), according to Bhattacharyya, is likely to hit the production of CIL. "MoEF had asked to stop all industrial activities in areas which rated above 70 in the Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index (CEPI), and eight blocks of CIL come under those areas, which will affect the production target," he explained.