Coal news and updates

800 million tonnes and counting: Private MDOs churning out India's coal

In 2015, the coal mining sector started from ground zero following a Supreme Court order cancelling all prior mine allocations and the introduction in Parliament of the Coal Mines Special Provisions Act (CMSP). While this led to a record number of coal mine awards to both the public and the private sector, one industry which till last decade was just seen as dominated by contractors, has metamorphosed into a thriving mine development and operators (MDO) ecosystem.

Data collated by Business Standard shows that 80 mines with a cumulative annual production of 780 million tonnes (MT) are being operated and mined by private MDOs. These are the mines that have been awarded to several public sector firms such as NTPC Ltd, NLC, SAIL and power generation companies of several state governments. This is in addition to the coal production planned by national miner Coal India Limited (CIL), which is aiming to outsource nearly 90 per