Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), the flagship company of Coal India Limited (CIL), has recently applied to the Central Government for upgrading its status to Scheduled A. Currently, it is a Scheduled B company.
The application is under consideration of the government. MCL, the second largest coal company of CIL registering more than eight per cent growth per annum, is slated to be number one soon in CIL. The company has the target to produce 112 million tonne (MT) of coal and its dispatch target is at 114 MT for the current fiscal.
Having the estimated total coal reserve of 68 billion tonne, about 24 per cent of the total reserve of the country, MCL has set itself a target to produce 300 MT by 2025.
Sources said one of the major roadblocks in the company’s desired growth is in the realm of infrastructure network to evacuate coal to its consumers spread across the country.
To overcome this constraint, the company has recently taken multiple measures to augment the railway and port networks.
The Scheduled A status, sources said, will qualify the company to get Navratna status which means more financial autonomy and prompt decision-making powers.