India's on Wednesday launched the 7th round of commercial coal mine auctions and has put 106 mines on the block in the presence of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. At the event, the Coal Ministry announced that this year, India has witnessed its highest-ever coal production from commercial mines. Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi and Secretary Amrit Lal Meena also hosted the event.

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Joshi on Wednesday said that India will be a coal exporter by 2025-26 and is all set to break its past records of coal production by end of the current financial year. Speaking at the launch, he added that 880 million tonnes (MT) of coal production are expected in the current FY, a 14 percent rise from the previous year.

Pointing to the 116 MT coal stock available at thermal power plants as of March 26, Joshi assured that there won't be any shortage of coal during the peak power demand in summer even as PSUs and private players have been asked to raise coal production and also prepare for the monsoon in June and July.

While the government plans to reduce annual coal imports year-by-year from the current 220 MT, the minister said that coal imports will continue for now for imported coal-based power plants as well as for use in metallurgy.

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Inaugurating the 7th round of commercial coal mine auctions, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that over 100 commercial coal mines slated to be auctioned in this round will go a long way in making India Aatmnirbhar in the energy sector, pointing to the Russia-Ukraine war which highlighted the need for self-reliance in energy even for developed countries.

"After the Ukraine conflict, the countries learned that no matter how big and developed a nation is if it's not self-reliant for its energy needs, then it can face hurdles in development," Singh said.

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With India working towards decarbonisation at the International Solar Alliance and with the use of renewable energy and EVs, he stated that many developed nations lecturing India to stop the use of coal shouldn't forget their hypocrisy of using the same resource to develop themselves with much higher per capita emissions.

Stating that India will need coal for the next 40 to 50 years, Pralhad Joshi said that a revenue-sharing rebate of 50 percent is being given to states to incentivise coal production even as eight MT coal have been produced from the four commercial coal mines which have been operationalised.

With a cumulative PRC of 75 MT, 22 commercial coal mines have been made fully operational and 7 are partially operational.

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Coal Secretary Amrit Lal Meena said that India will have to keep importing around 120 MT of coal since the specific coal grade isn't available domestically, and many coastal power plants designed to use high-grade coal will have to keep importing it for now.

He stressed on India's need to become Aatmnirbhar in coal and curb imports in view of being the second-largest producer in the world and having the fourth-largest reserves globally.

Pointing to the 670 MT peak rate capacity of auctioned coal mines, Meena said that production of 115 MT has already begun even as a focused action plan is being implemented for rehabilitation of used and closed coal mines where 8,000 hectares have already been converted into forests.

With India's highest-ever coal production of 113 MT witnessed from captive and commercial mines this year, the government expects 300 MT coal production in India by 2025-26.

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(Edited by : Ayushi Agarwal)

First Published:Mar 29, 2023 2:29 PM IST