Thermal coal output up 3.3 pct y/y in 2012/13 - source

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's thermal coal production rose 3.3 percent to 508.32 million tonnes in 2012/13, while coking coal output declined 4.5 percent to 49.35 million tonnes, provisional figures obtained from a government source showed on Monday.

Production of coal, which fuels more than half of India's power generation, nudged up 0.2 percent in March from a year earlier to 54.24 million tonnes, the figures obtained by Reuters showed.

Despite being the world's third-largest coal producer, India's imports of fuel have risen steadily in the past few years as capacity additions in the power sector have outpaced domestic coal output growth.

The world's fourth-biggest importer of coal produced 557.7 million tonnes of coal in 2012/13, 3.3 percent higher from a year ago, which included 7.14 million tonnes from the northeastern state of Meghalaya, the figures showed.

The total coal output, which is about 96 percent of the energy-hungry nation's annual target, is marginally higher than the 557.5 million tonnes announced by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Thursday.

"That (the minister's) was the provisional figure then (last week). Now, this is the provisional figure. Slight variation is always there," said the source, who declined to be identified as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

State-run Coal India Ltd , the world's biggest miner, produced 452.2 million tonnes, continuing to account for about 80 percent of the country's total output.

(Reporting by Malini Menon; Editing by Jijo Jacob)