Despite soft performance in June quarter, worst behind for Coal India

With the lockdown impacting the economy, coal demand from power producers and other industries suffered, too

Though Coal India’s (CIL) August sales numbers gave investors a reason to cheer, the soft June quarter (Q1) performance was a disappointment. The stock, thus, declined 1.2 per cent on Thursday — Q1 results were reported on Wednesday.

With the nationwide lockdown impacting the economy, coal demand from power producers and other industries suffered. This was reflected in the Q1 performance as its sales volume declined 21.5 per cent year-on-year (YoY), and realisations suffered, too. The more profitable e-auction realisations, which had softened from Rs 2,847 per tonne in December 2018 to Rs 2,100 levels before the lockdown, fell by a