India’s coal production increases 29% to 66.58 mt in April 2022

The Ministry of Coal on Tuesday told the media that the coal production in the country increased 29% in April to 66.58 metric tonnes (mt), compared to 51.62 mt in April 2021.

A coal ministry official told the media that production in captive and other types of mines grew by 60% in the same period, while coal dispatch to power utilities increased by 18.15%.

The ministry update arrives even as several states in India are grappling with a power crisis sparked by coal shortage, worsened by the rising demand for electricity because of the continuing heatwave in large parts of the country.

Coal India Limited (CIL) and Singareni Collieries Company Limited saw a growth of 27.64% and 9.59%, respectively, as per the coal ministry.

Recently, the coal ministry said CIL has a coal stock of 56.7 mt currently. While the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) stock is at 4.3 mt, captive coal blocks have approximately 2.3 mt of stock.

The ministry said a drop in import costs of coal have been observed since the end of October last year, adding that international costs are still at a high level.

Of the leading 37 coal mines, 22 produced over 100% and another 10 produced over 80%, a coal ministry official said, adding that coal-based power generation witnessed an increase of 9.26% in April 2022 corresponded to April 2021, while the overall power generation this April was 11.75% higher than the power developed in April last year.

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