Coal India Ltd the world's largest coal miner has finalized
a production target of 492 million tons for the fiscal year starting on April
1, about 6 % higher than the current year's expected production.
The target was finalized in a meeting last week with officials
from India's planning commission, Coal India Chairman S Narsing Rao said.
The state-controlled miner, which produces about 80 % of
India's coal, is under pressure from the government and power producers to ease
fuel shortages at home but has struggled for years to raise output due to
problems in obtaining environmental and regulatory approval.
Output levels have remained nearly stable for the past two
years and have missed production target last year.
The company is aiming to supply 464 million tons of coal
this fiscal year ending March, an increase of nearly 7 %. The company is fairly
close to achieve this target, but performance in the last two months would
hold the key, Rao added.
“It is still a tight situation, but the next 66 days
can tilt the scales,” he said.
Coal India has produced 20 million tons more compared to the
same period last year, but now needs to push up production by another 9 million
tons in the remaining period.
India produced 240.32 million tons of coal in the first half
of the current fiscal year, up by 8.2 % from a year earlier, according to figures
provided by a government official showed.
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