Coal India registers 7.1% growth in output in August at at 37.17 mn tonnes

Coal India on Tuesday said it has registered a 7.1 per cent growth in coal output at 37.17 million tonnes in August compared to the year-ago period.

In a statement, the company said that coal off-take increased 9.3 per cent last month compared to the same period a year ago.

For the first time in the ongoing fiscal, Coal India has recorded growth in both production and off-take.

Coal production rose by 2.47 MT (Million Tonnes) to 37.17 MT in August. The growth was 7.1 per cent compared to the year-ago period, it said.

"The growth slowdown is contained and going forward in the ensuing months of the fiscal, we endeavour to maintain our production and off-take tempo," a senior company official said.

As a whole, Coal India supplied 44.34 MT of coal to different consuming sectors last month against 40.57 MT in the year-ago period.

Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, an arm of Coal India, clocked a robust 40.4 per cent growth while Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd (SECL) recorded 10.4 per cent and 7.6 per cent growth, respectively.

BCCL and SECL are Coal India subsidiaries.

Despatch of coal and coal products to power sector, including through special forward e-auction, grew by two per cent in August this year. Despatch of coal to power sector was 34.20 MT last month as against 33.47 MT in the same period a year ago.

In August, coal supplies to non-power sector witnessed a growth of 43 per cent. It despatched 10.14 MT of coal to its non-power consumers in August against 7.10 MT in the same month last fiscal.

Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.