A milestone: India's coal output crosses a billion tonnes in 2024-25

The Union government had earlier projected coal production to reach 1 bt by FY24, but it was later pushed to FY25

In a significant milestone, India crossed the record annual coal output of 1 billion tonnes (bt) on Thursday to hit 1.03 bt, constituting a 5.24 per cent uptick over the total production of 953.3 million tonnes in 2023-24.  

 

The landmark that comes days ahead of this financial year’s end, was driven by a 1.3 per cent rise in Coal India’s output, albeit on a large base, along with a substantive 29 per cent growth in the production of the energy-laden sedimentary rock by privately owned captive and commercial coal mines.

 

While Coal India Limited (CIL) has contributed 0.75 bt to