New Delhi: State-run Coal India Ltd's (CIL) supplies to the power sector peaked to a historic high of 493 million tonnes (MT) on March 3 of the ongoing fiscal, breaching the previous high of 491.5 MT that the Maharatna coal miner recorded in FY19. CIL has achieved the feat with 28 days still to go before the fiscal's end. During April 2021-February 2022, CIL supplied 90 MT more coal to the power sector than it did during the corresponding period of the last year.
Coal India's coal despatch was 488 MT to this major coal consuming sector ending February FY22. This represents a sizeable growth of around 23 percent compared to 398 MT of the same period in FY21, said CIL in a statement on Friday.
The major challenge for Coal India during the year was adjusting to the unpredictability of the coal demand. The coal-based power generation witnessed a muted growth in previous two fiscals. Then it had risen sharply to 11.2 percent till January 2022 compared to the same period a fiscal ago. However, the company had managed to push additional quantities of coal.
Continuing in the same vein, at 48.4 MT in February, CIL posted a robust 22 percent growth in coal supplies to the power sector. This was a jump of 8.6 MT compared to 39.8 MT of February 21, said Coal India.
Stepping up on supplies in the remainder of March, CIL aims to close the fiscal with 548 MT coal offtake to the power sector as projected by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The current coal stock of 43 MT at CIL's pitheads is expected to increase further by FY22 end. This would help the company gear up to meet the coal demand of summer which is on the advent.
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