Coal news and updates

CIL shouldn’t consider price rise unless it fulfils commitment: APP

June 24: The Association of Power Producers (APP), an apex body of private sector power generators in the country, has urged Coal India Ltd (CIL) not to go for frequent price rises and focus on meeting its supply commitments instead.

“Almost every year there is a price hike by CIL. However, no matter how often it increases prices, the miner cannot meet its commitments to power sector consumers in terms of quantity or quality,” APP Director General Ashok Khurana told ICMW.

The Indian power utilities received 415.17 million tons (mt) of domestic coal in 2013-14. While this showed an increased over 398.71 mt in 2012-13, imports by the utilities also grew significantly from 62.57 mt to 79.39 mt.

Khurana said instead of considering any price hike in near future, CIL should strive to increase output so that costly import of thermal coal could be stopped.