Coal news and updates

Coal India to step up production in bid to meet target for 2023-24: Chairman P.M. Prasad

Coal India chairman P.M. Prasad outlines the strategy for production, the immediate headwinds, long-term plans to increase availability of coking coal, the need for expanding washeries and plans to utilise a combination of rail and sea routes for transportation

Pinak Ghosh Calcutta Published 05.02.24, 11:06 AM

With little less than two months left till the completion of financial year 2023-24, Coal India plans to step up production from the second half of February in a bid to achieve the production target of 780 million tonnes (mt) target set for the year.

Coal India chairman P.M. Prasad in an interview with Pinak Ghosh from The Telegraph outlines the strategy for production, the immediate headwinds, long-term plans to increase availability of coking coal, the need for expanding washeries and plans to utilise a combination of rail and sea routes for transportation.

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Coal India’s production for April-January 2023-24 was 610.3mt. The aim is to reach 780mt, which means an additional production of 169.7mt in February and March 2024. Can Coal India achieve and surpass the target?

Our year-on-year production growth is 10.8 per cent and the aim is to sustain it at that level. We sailed past the 600mt production mark on January 28, which is 24 days ahead compared with 2022-23. All our subsidiaries are surging ahead with positive growth and striving to maintain the tempo.

Also, our production shifts into higher gear from the second half of February. So, the outlook is optimistic.

What would you say are the immediate headwinds that Coal India would have to navigate to achieve the target production?