The Union coal ministry is optimistic of achieving a production of 170 million tonnes (MT) from captive and commercial sources in 2024-25. As it gears up for the 12th round of the commercial coal block auction, the ministry is also exploring incentives to the private sector to garner interest in underground coal mining.
Data from the coal ministry shows the coal production from captive/commercial coal blocks was 155.91 MT as of January 2025 with a year on year growth of 32.38 per cent.
“This year, production from captive and commercial blocks is well poised to reach the target of 170 mt,” coal secretary Vikram Dev Dutt said at a roadshow for commercial coal mine auctions in the city.
A total 113 coal mines have successfully been auctioned under commercial mining, having a peak rated capacity of around 257.60 mt per annum.
The coal secretary said that efforts have been made to continuously tweak the auction framework in order to make the process more investor friendly and for ease of business.
The coal ministry has been working with the environment ministry to minimise the time required to make auctioned mines operational. This could bring down the operational timelines by 6-8 months.
In order to garner interest from the private sector, the coal secretary also said that an incentivisation framework for these mines is under development. The push for underground mining aligns with India’s drive for sustainable coal production.
“There is an incentivisation framework which is at a very advanced stage of discussion and maybe in a month’s time we will be adding some more incentives to the framework,” he said.
Additional secretary Rupinder Brar clarified that any new incentives and policy relaxations are expected to be applicable prospectively.
Of the 113 commercial mines successfully auctioned, 37 are underground mines. The 11th round of commercial coal mine auction saw 27 coal mines on offer and 72 bids were received for 24 mines. A similar number of mines are expected to be put under the hammer in the 12th round.
