Coal India is targeting sales of 50 million tonnes through e-auction in the second half of the current fiscal, the company’s chairman said. The state-owned coal behemoth had sold around 30 MT via e-auction in the first six months of the 2022-23 financial year.

"We are targeting another 50 MT in e-auction sales for the year," CIL chairman Pramod Agrawal said on the sidelines of the Global Mining Summit 2022organised by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).

Coal India's sales were at 108 MT in 2021-22. In the July-September quarter of the current fiscal, the miner had sold 10.36 MT of coal, and the average realisation was Rs 6,061 per tonne.

The Maharatna Public Sector Undertaking sold 141 MT of the fuel through the fuel supply agreement in the three months that ended on September 30, 2022 with an average realisation of Rs 1,413 per tonne.

During the programme, Agrawal said the Kolkata-headquartered company has been focused on evacuation and sustainability. Production will not be a problem but evacuation will be a challenge, he said.

“The company is investing heavily in first-mile connectivity and mechanised evacuation. In the next three-four years, most of the evacuation exercise will be mechanised,” Agrawal said, adding that the mining sector is critical to the country's growth.

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