Assuring that India will produce enough coal to meet the country’s increasing power demand, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday that in FY25, the use of imported coal will come down to 2 per cent from 4.6 per cent at present.

Speaking at the launch of the ninth round of commercial coal auctions, Joshi said: “At this time, the use of imported coal at domestic coal-based (DCB) plants is around 4.6 per cent. Same time last year, it was around 10 per cent. In FY25, it will come down to 2 per cent and then zero in FY26.”

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He expressed confidence in India’s coal production efforts with a target to cross 1 billion tonnes of production of the critical fuel, the mainstay of India power generation sector, in the current financial year. The estimated demand of coal in the current fiscal year is around 1,196 million tonnes.

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A coal-laden goods train passes through the Faridabad railway station, in New Delhi (file photo)

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Coal auctions

Joshi while launching the ninth round said that in the last 8 auctions a total of 95 coal blocks have been allocated.

A total of 31 coal mines are being offered in the ninth round of commercial coal mine auctions. The mines being auctioned are spread across coal, lignite-bearing States of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.

Among these, seven coal mines are fully explored, while 19 are partially explored. Additionally, five coal mines are being offered under the 2nd Attempt of round 7 of commercial coal mines auction that includes four CMSP Act coal mines and one MMDR Act coal mine. Of these, four are fully explored, while one is partially explored, it added.

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