New Delhi: Coal India Limited’s (CIL) coal production and offtake have dropped by 3.6 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, in the first half (H1) of the current financial year, data released by CIL on Wednesday showed. The state-run coal miner has recorded output of 329.14 Million Tonnes (MT) in April-September period of FY2025-26 this year as opposed to 341.35 MT in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
For the month of September, CIL’s coal production was down by 3.9 percent at 48.97 MT, while offtake was 1.1 percent lower at 53.56 MT. In this financial year, Coal India has seen lower coal production and offtake due to a subdued demand from the power sector, which has witnessed a peak demand of 250 GW, much lower than the projected 270 GW. Around 80 percent of the coal mined by CIL goes to the power sector.
Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and South-Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) are the only two CIL subsidiaries that have recorded a growth in coal production in H1 of FY26. While NCL clocked 4.3 percent rise in output, SECL saw a 1.7 percent rise in coal production during the period. For September, Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), NCL and SECL were the three subsidiaries that clocked a rise in coal production. While ECL’s production went up 16.2 percent, NCL saw an 11.3 percent rise in production and SECL’s output went up 6.5 percent. Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) witnessed the biggest drop in coal production in the month of September — 32.5 percent.
For the April-September period, coal offtake is down at five of Coal India’s subsidiaries. Ranchi-based Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) witnessed the biggest drop in coal offtake at 15.7 percent, followed by Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) at 8.6 percent, WCL at 7.3 percent, ECL at 4.3 percent and Odisha-based Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) at 0.6 percent. During H1, offtake saw an increase at NCL (2.6 percent) and SECL (3.1 percent).
In September, the subsidiaries who registered a decline in coal offtake include, WCL (32.9 percent), CCL (16.4 percent), BCCL (5.3 percent), and MCL (1.4 percent). SECL registered a robust increase in offtake at 10.9 percent followed by ECL at 7.9 percent and NCL at 7.3 percent.
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