Coal India may fall short of annual output target: CIL chairman

Coal India Limited (CIL) Chairman S Narsing Rao on Thursday said the company might fall short of its annual production target by 12 million tonnes (mt) in the current financial year.

“Yes, we may fall short of the annual output target. We have given a revised estimate of 452 mt,” Rao told Business Standard. CIL had an annual production target of 464 mt.

According to the CIL chairman, lower production in the October-November period due to heavy rain has been an hindrance in reaching the output target. “Also, the ongoing two days strike has adversely affected the production,” he added. In the first ten months of the current financial year, CIL has recorded a production of 355.51 mt.

However, Rao said that CIL is “well on target” to meet the annual off-take target of 470 mt, riding on improved rake availability.

“We have been able to improve monitoring. Also, there is better coordination with the railways, resulting in improvement in rake availability. On an average, there is some 11 per cent growth in rake availability in the year. However, it still needs to be improved,” Rao said.

The average rake availability has been about 215 per day in February as against 193 in February last year.

During the April-January period of the current financial year, CIL has registered an off-take of 379.21 mt.

In recent days, CIL has drawn flak from all quarters for coal shortages across the country.