Coal news and updates

Coal India  (CIL) executives have called off their 3-day strike to protest against non- fulfillment of their demands including performance-related pay after talks with the PSU major's management.  The strike was expected to have an estimated impact in production and dispatches by 4 million tonne of coal at a time when the miner is facing a shortfall in excess of 17 million tonne from its target for 2013-14. The demand for performance-related pay has been referred to the Cabinet by the Committee of Secretaries. The strike was called to press for performance-linked pay and new pension scheme implementation, which requires the Coal Ministry's approval, Coal Mines Officers' Association of India president VP Singh told CNBC-TV18 in an interview earlier . The average annual impact on Coal India is around Rs 200 crore for not implementing the wage pact of 2007 in totality, he said, adding the total impact on Coal India would be to the tune of Rs 800 crore annually. The state-owned company, the world's No. 1 coal miner that accounts for about 80 percent of India's output, frequently falls short of its output target due to employee strikes, delays in getting approvals to expand mines and other issues. As a result, India is the world's third largest importer of coal despite sitting on the fifth-largest reserve.

 

Source: moneycontrol.com (With inputs from agencies)