A top government official has said that Coal India may perhaps miss the production target of 550 million tonne (MT) for the current fiscal by 10-15 MT on account of slump in demand.

Coal India (CIL) accounts for over 80 percent of the domestic production and aims to double the output to one billion tonne.

The Coal Secretary Anil Swarup has said that “(For CIL) 550 million tonne would now be a little difficult in the given circumstances.
“I think they would be able to hit anywhere between 535 MT and 540 MT. Reason being there is a demand slump.”

“Though the demand has gone up, it has not gone up at the rate at which it was expected because of the condition of discoms. So they are not picking up power. Since they are not picking up power the generation is not to the level it should be and consequently the offtake of coal is not to the level it should be,” he said.

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