Enough stock available to meet any sudden increase in demand: Coal India

Coal India Limited (CIL) Chairman and Managing Director P M Prasad on Wednesday said that sufficient coal stock is available in the country and the company is ready to meet any sudden increase in demand.

Prasad told shareholders at the 49th AGM that the company is working on a number of initiatives to increase its production capacity, including the development of new mines and the expansion of existing ones.

CIL is committed to meeting the country's growing demand for coal and is ready to address any sudden surge in demand, he said.

On Tuesday, the coal ministry reviewed the dry fuel's production and offtake in a meeting with senior officials due to the surge in power demand across the country.

The country has sufficient coal stocks, with almost 80 million tonnes of coal available with thermal power plants and Coal India, Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi had said.

Speaking about FY23 performance, Prasad said that CIL produced a record 703.2 million tonnes (MT) of coal in the fiscal year 2022-23. The company also achieved a record coal offtake of 694.7 million tonnes during the year.

On CIL's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, he said that the company is committed to a clean energy future and that it is working on a number of initiatives to achieve this goal.

He stated that CIL is investing in renewable energy projects and is also using cleaner technologies in its mining operations.

The CIL CMD said that the growth momentum remains strong in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

"CIL achieved coal production growth of 10 per cent, overburden removal growth of 30 per cent and offtake growth of 5 per cent during the quarter compared to the same quarter of FY23.

"We supplied the highest ever quantity of 186.95 million tonnes for Q1 period of any year. The total revenue from operations for the first quarter period of FY'24 is Rs 35,983 crore," he said.