NEW DELHI: Coal minister Pralhad Joshi on Wednesday said that more than 107 coal mines will be put up for sale in the near future. The auction of these mines is expected to increase domestic coal production.
The coal ministry has set a production target of 900 million tonnes for the current fiscal, which includes 700 MT from state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL).
Joshi, while addressing a function, said that in the last four months CIL has produced around 207 million tonnes of coal, thereby setting a new record, according to a coal ministry statement.
The domestic coal output has registered a growth of 22 per cent, while coal-based power generation has increased by 16.8 per cent this year. In the next eight years, the country's coal requirement will increase to 1.5 billion tonnes.
Wednesday's event marked the allocation of 43 coal mines to date since the launch of commercial coal mining in the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June 2020.
The coal ministry executed agreements with the successful bidders for 16 coal mines auctioned during the 13th tranche, 14th tranche and second attempt of the 12th tranche.
The total annual revenue generation from these mines is estimated at Rs 4,286.53 crore, considering aggregated peak rate production capacity of 23.77 million tonnes per annum.
Once fully operational, these mines are likely to generate employment for 31,954 people both directly and indirectly. A total investment of Rs 3,565.50 crore will be incurred to operationalise these blocks.