CIL misses output target for 4th month

Coal India produced only 34.54 million tonnes of coal in August, missing the target for a fourth month, even as acute fuel shortages continue to hit power generation.

The target for August was 35.13 million tonnes (mt).

In the first five months of the current financial year, the company produced 175.88 mt of coal against a target of 183.44 mt, CIL said in a filing with BSE.

In May, the output was 36.27 MT against target of 38.46 MT, In June it was 34.54 MT (36.84) and in July it achieved a production of 33.01 MT (35.86)

According to the latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 56 power plants had less than seven days of coal stocks as on August 31, .

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier asked Coal India to ramp up production from its existing mines.

CIL, which accounts for 80% of domestic coal production, missed its output target of 482 million tonnes for 2013-14, producing 462 million tonnes during the period.

Production fell short of target because of various reasons, including lack of environment clearance to coal mining projects.

In 2012-13, the company produced 452.5 million tonnes of coal, falling short of the 464 MT target.

Coal India's production target for 2014-15 has been set at 507 MT.