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Coal Minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal today said he was not in favour of splitting state-run Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal mining company.
"I have never favoured splitting (of Coal India)," Jaiswal told PTI.
"We will engage an external consultant to advise the ministry on the restructuring of Coal India for a long term sustainability roadmap," he said, adding that nine consultants have been shortlisted for the purpose.
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The Minister said the advisor would be engaged in a month or two and would be given six months to submit the report.
Earlier, the T L Shankar committee had recommended restructuring of Coal India's subsidiaries to improve efficiency and increase production of coal, he said.
The Minister emphasised that the restructuring study exercise does not mean splitting Coal India into smaller companies and nowhere in the mandate has this been mentioned.
Coal India has eight subsidiaries - Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, Central Coalfields Ltd, Eastern Coalfields Ltd, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd, Western Coalfields Ltd, Northern Coalfields Ltd, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd and Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd.
The Planning Commission had suggested spinning off CIL subsidiaries into separate entities so that each one of them can pursue its own goals, amid growing supply deficit of coal.
The Planning Commission has pegged India's total coal production at the end of the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) at 795 million tonnes against total coal demand at 980 million tonnes.
