Coal India aims at 4-5% growth in production in FY'25

Kolkata: Coal India Ltd (CIL) has acknowledged that the realistic production target for the current fiscal will be 806-810 million tonnes (MT), down from 838 million tonnes, company Chairman PM Prasad said on Friday.

CIL production grew 2.2 per cent to 543 million tonnes till December in the current fiscal. But aiming to ramp up production in the remaining days of the fiscal, efforts are on to achieve a growth of around 4 to 5 per cent, he said.

"We are targeting a production of 806-810 million tonnes in the current fiscal," Prasad said on the sidelines of the announcement of the 11th edition of the International Mining and Machinery Exhibition (IME 2025).

"In the full year, we are targeting to achieve a realistic target of about 4-5 per cent growth," Prasad told PTI.

In FY24, CIL produced 773.65 million tonnes, marking an 11 per cent growth over FY'23.

He expressed optimism about getting closer to the target, citing the performance of subsidiaries Mahanadi Coalfields, Northern Coalfields Ltd and Western Coalfields Ltd, which is on track, while ECL is also hopeful of achieving its target.

"We have to see how South Eastern Coalfields mega mines perform in the next 75 days of the year," Prasad said.

The production issues in the subsidiary are hitting the target, officials said.

Prasad also highlighted the overall growth prospects for coal production in India, with a target of 1080 million tonnes for FY'25, up from 997 million tonnes last year of FY24.

"Overall, in FY'25, there will be growth for coal production in India," he said when asked whether demand is getting sluggish.

Additionally, captive and commercial coal mines have registered over 30 per cent growth till December in the current fiscal.

Prasad said the mining major was focused on reducing thermal coal imports in India.

Year on year coal imports were down by 3.1 per cent in India to 149.39 millition tonnes in April-December 2024.