NEW DELHI, AUG 2 (IANS): Domestic coal production has crossed one billion tonnes for two consecutive years, at 1,047.52 million tonnes (MT) in FY 2024-25 and 1,040.08 MT in FY 2025-26, compared with 609.18 MT in FY 2014-15, with a substantial part of this growth has come from captive and commercial blocks, whose share of national production has risen from 10.9 per cent in FY 2021-22 to 20.2 per cent in FY 2025-26, according to a factsheet issued by the government on Sunday.
In 2014, the Supreme Court had cancelled 204 of the 218 blocks allocated between 1993 and 2012, finding the process arbitrary for want of consistent and objective criteria, and made clear the need for a transparent, auction-based framework. In response, the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 placed re-allocation on a firm statutory footing, and the first auction tranche was launched in December 2014. Between 2015 and 2020, ten tranches of auction and nine of allotment restored 76 coal mines to productive use.
Commercial coal mining was formally launched in June 2020, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision, permitting the sale of coal on a competitive basis and extending participation beyond the public sector.
A successful bidder may now sell coal to any consumer in any sector at market-determined prices, with no captive-use restriction and no bar on how the coal is utilised, the factsheet stated.
