<p>CIL has not hiked prices since 2007 and this has resulted in a huge difference in prices.<br />"CIL is considering to raise the coal prices by about 10 per cent across-the-board soon," sources said.<br /><br />Domestic coal prices range between Rs 770 and Rs 1,700 a tonne. If hiked by 10 per cent, the prices would go up by Rs 175 a tonne.<br /><br />A top Coal India official, however, said the hike would be "modest" and said, "our prices are 50 per cent discounted as compared to the global prices. Now there has been a major wage revision resulting in over Rs 4,000 crore additional financial burden on us which cannot be met through production and productivity alone."<br /><br />The official said that CIL had witnessed a sharp drop in retained earnings because of the wage-built annual impact and the company's retained profit could be only Rs 300 crore on a turnover of about Rs 45,000 crore last year. <br /><br />Coal is a key component for cement, power and steel industries and companies in these sectors would have to bear additional costs if the price of coal is increased.<br /><br />Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier told PTI that he would call on the Prime Minister to discuss hiking of coal prices.<br /><br />Also, Coal India has been stating that its projects worth multi-billion dollar may become unviable if prices are not raised.<br /><br />"Our prices starting at about USD 16 a tonne are over 50 per cent cheaper than the prevailing global rates. We are seeking a marginal increase as we do not wish to lose the tag of provider of cheap coal to end users," Coal India Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya had said.<br /><br />The coal prices were last revised marginally in 2007, with only three revisions since deregulation of prices in 2000.<br /><br />The coal major is targeting a production of 435 million tonne this fiscal against 403.73 million tonnes achieved in 2008-09.</p>
<p>CIL has not hiked prices since 2007 and this has resulted in a huge difference in prices.<br />"CIL is considering to raise the coal prices by about 10 per cent across-the-board soon," sources said.<br /><br />Domestic coal prices range between Rs 770 and Rs 1,700 a tonne. If hiked by 10 per cent, the prices would go up by Rs 175 a tonne.<br /><br />A top Coal India official, however, said the hike would be "modest" and said, "our prices are 50 per cent discounted as compared to the global prices. Now there has been a major wage revision resulting in over Rs 4,000 crore additional financial burden on us which cannot be met through production and productivity alone."<br /><br />The official said that CIL had witnessed a sharp drop in retained earnings because of the wage-built annual impact and the company's retained profit could be only Rs 300 crore on a turnover of about Rs 45,000 crore last year. <br /><br />Coal is a key component for cement, power and steel industries and companies in these sectors would have to bear additional costs if the price of coal is increased.<br /><br />Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal had earlier told PTI that he would call on the Prime Minister to discuss hiking of coal prices.<br /><br />Also, Coal India has been stating that its projects worth multi-billion dollar may become unviable if prices are not raised.<br /><br />"Our prices starting at about USD 16 a tonne are over 50 per cent cheaper than the prevailing global rates. We are seeking a marginal increase as we do not wish to lose the tag of provider of cheap coal to end users," Coal India Chairman Partha S Bhattacharyya had said.<br /><br />The coal prices were last revised marginally in 2007, with only three revisions since deregulation of prices in 2000.<br /><br />The coal major is targeting a production of 435 million tonne this fiscal against 403.73 million tonnes achieved in 2008-09.</p>