Coal India Chairman Anil Kumar Jha on Wednesday said renewables are unlikely to surpass coal as the major source for power generation soon and asserted that India’s energy migration scenario will be different compared to many other countries.

State-owned Coal India accounts for nearly 83 per cent of the country’s coal production.

“The question is can renewables take over coal completely in our country? Not in the near future at least. It would not be an exaggeration to state that Coal India Ltd (CIL) is synonymous with India’s energy scenario,” Jha told shareholders at the company’s 45th annual general meeting here.

His remarks also come against the backdrop of increasing focus on renewable energy sources for the generation of power in different parts of the world.

Jha said the energy migration scenario in India would be “different”, compared to many other countries which have been switching to renewable sources.

According to him, nine mining projects having a total capacity of 69.88 million tonnes per year have been sanctioned and the estimated cost is ₹ 9,093 crore.

Besides, two rail projects with an outlay of ₹ 6,656 crore have been approved.

For the first time, Coal India had breached the 600 million tonnes-mark in production as well as off-take of coal.

The miner produced 606.89 million tonnes of coal and supplied 608.14 million tonnes of the dry fuel, representing growth of 6.97 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively, compared to the previous fiscal.

During the meeting, a shareholder, however, said he was disappointed watching stock price heading towards a lifetime low of ₹ 200 apiece, since the initial public offer nine years ago when the price was ₹ 235 per scrip.

At close, the shares of the company were down 3.41 per cent at ₹ 188.65 on the NSE.

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