Coal India (CIL) on Thursday announced that its coal supplies to thermal power plants of the country hit 610.8 million tonnes (MTs) on Wednesday surpassing the annual target of 610 MTs to this sector. “This was the highest to date and the company achieved the feat four days earlier than the FY 2024 closure,” CIL said in a regulatory filing.
This is 29.3 MTs or 5 per cent higher in comparison to 581.5 MTs of last fiscal’s same period. CIL’s coal supplies to the power sector exceeded the target for the second consecutive year. In FY 2023, off-take to power plants was 586.6 MTs against the programmed commitment of 565 MTs.
With such supplies from CIL, coal stock at domestic coal-based power plants shot up to 47.1 MTs (as on 26 March) ahead of the onset of the summer. The stock is 13.7 MTs more compared to the same period last year. Coal stock at power plants was 33.4 MTs as of the same date in FY 2023.
Earlier in February, Coal India Ltd Chairman PM Prasad had said that it plans to lower its production of the dry fuel to 838 million tonnes in the upcoming financial year 2024-25 against the targeted 850 million tonnes. This will be due to having accumulated “huge stocks” which have grown to more than 38 million tonnes, an all-time high for this time of the year, the Chairman had said in an earnings call.
The company produced 78.4 MT of coal in January taking its cumulative output for the Apr-Jan period at 610.3 MT. The company has set a target of 780 MT production for the financial year ending March. However, it is likely to miss its FY24’s production target, the Chairman had stated.
