New Delhi: State-owned CIL produced 619.7 million tonnes (MT) in the April-February period of the current fiscal, registering a year-on-year growth of 14.3 per cent. The maharatna firm had produced 542 MT of coal in the year-ago period. "This is a 100 per cent achievement against progressive target. With a quantum gain of 77.3 MT CIL is well on its way to breach the production target of 700 MT of FY'23," Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a statement.
All the subsidiaries of the coal behemoth have logged growth over previous year. The Dhanbad-based Bharat Coking Coal Ltd has already wrapped up its annual production target of 32 MT on 27 February. On progressive basis, CIL has consistently maintained a high double-digit production growth since the beginning of the fiscal.
CIL began its 700 MT target chase with an asking growth rate of 12.4 per cent. 'The company is aiming to augment the growth further in March'23 and any increase would have supplementary influence over the target," a senior official of the company said. Despite being a shorter month, CIL's output last month stood at 68.8 MT, the highest for the month in any year till now. This represents a growth of seven per cent compared to February last year.
"The increase of 4.5 MT in volume terms was notched over a high base of 64.3 MT," it said. Sequentially, compared to January this fiscal, CIL on an average produced 1.37 lakh tonnes more coal per day in February. CIL's total supplies at 630.5 MT increased by 30.6 MT, year-on-year, during the April-February period of the current fiscal.
The company posted a growth of 5.1 per cent compared to 599.8 MT of corresponding period last year. Three of CIL' subsidiaries BCCL, NCL and MCL have surpassed their respective annual off-take targets. Amid rising demand, the PSU supplied 46 MT more coal to the power sector in the eleven months of the current financial year at 534 MT. This is a 9.4 per cent growth compared to 488 MT in the same period last financial year.
Despite higher supplies to consuming sectors, CIL ended February with 50 MT coal stock at its pitheads. Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output. (PTI)
