Coal India Apr-Dec output at 342.39 MT; misses target by 3%

Coal India, the world's largest miner of dry fuel, recorded an output of 342.39 million tonnes (MT) in April-December 2014, missing its production target by 3% for the period.

The coal giant had fixed an output target of 353.47 MT for the first nine months of current fiscal.

The offtake of coal at the miner's end stood at 354.60 MT during the period this year, down by 6% against the target of 376.65 MT, according to a BSE filing by the coal PSU.

For December 2014, Coal India production was at 47 MT against a target of 47.93 MT. The offtake of dry fuel was at 43.91 MT during the month against the targetted 46.49 MT.

However, no reason was given by the PSU for missing both output and offtake targets.

The Centre has announced plans to boost Coal India's annual production to the level of 1 billion tonnes by 2019 to meet growing fuel demand. However, the company has successively missed its output targets.

Coal India, 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.

Shares of Coal India were trading at Rs 385 apiece on BSE, up 1.24% against previous close.