How do you rate CIL on the technology adoption front? 

As a coal mining company, CIL endeavours to stay at the forefront of emerging technologies, mechanisation, digitalisation and automated processes. It is more of an imperative rather than a choice. Our tech adoption is concentrated at better productivity, environment, safety and cost efficiency. In UG mining, we are using mass production technologies like continuous miners, powered support long wall and high wall.

We are shifting to higher use of surface miners in OC mines, mechanised coal loading system and digitalisation in the seven select OC mines under project Digicoal. We are also pursuing India’s first ever private 5G drone surveillance in coal mining at Amlohri project of NCL for monitoring and data collection. Suitable to geo-mining conditions, technology adoption is a continuous process in CIL. 

With the entry of commercial coal miners, especially with no end use restrictions, do you perceive any serious competition challenging Coal India’s position?  

From the country’s developmental point of view, entry of commercial miners is a welcome move as increased quantities of indigenous coal will be available in the system reducing expensive imports. CIL views their entry as complementary to our own role, rather than challenging it. We do not perceive any threat to our position from commercial coal miners, as our decades of core experience, well versed multi-disciplinary professionals, skilled workforce, high degree of technology adoption, strong financial fundamentals make us confident of retaining our energy leadership in coal sector. Our operational efficiency has also increased significantly making our cost of production lower. The synergy of commercial miners and government owned entities would further strengthen the coal sector.

Of CIL’s total coal production of 773.6 mt in 2023-24, only about 8 per cent was coking coal. What are the reasons for this low volume? What is the target of coking coal output in the current financial year?

Though India is endowed with abundant coal resources, as a quirk of nature, coking coal reserves are scarce. Much of the Indian coal is of thermal grade or non-coking coal. The available coking reserves are concentrated around Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro, Ramgarh and in other pockets of eastern India. So, limited geological reserves of low ash coking coal and non-feasibility of its techno-commercial extraction forces imports of this variety of coal. We are targeting to produce 70.8 mt of coking coal in the current fiscal, which would be a 17 per cent jump, compared to 60.4 mt that we produced in 2023-24.  

What are your diversification plans? 

Our diversification foray includes a pithead power plant Mahanadi Basin Power Limited (MBPL), wholly owned by CIL’s subsidiary MCL. Of a total 4,000 MW capacity, in the first phase 2x800 MW plant will be set up in Sundargarh, Odisha, to be followed by three more units of 800 MW in the second phase. We are tracking solar power generation of 5,000 MW in two phases – 3,000 MW by 2027-28 and another 2,000 MW beyond that.

We are into coal gasification and now have a new arm Bharat Coal Gasification & Chemicals Limited, which is a JV with BHEL to produce syn-gas. We will be signing a JV with GAIL for a similar project. CIL is also stepping into critical mineral mining and participating in domestic auctions of Ministry of Mines. Recently, CIL has emerged as preferred bidder for a graphite block in Madhya Pradesh.

How do revenue-maximisation plans help in protecting your company’s bottom line? 

Growth in volume sale of coal is key for revenue maximisation, as the major cost is fixed and any increase in sales leads to better returns. Automation and digitalisation of the mining processes and fuel-efficient machines help in keeping down the operational costs. There is a net reduction of our manpower to the tune of 10,-12,000 per annum, due to natural attrition.

Savings on wage cost then becomes sizeable, as it accounts for 45-50 per cent of our total costs. Contractual mining helps in keeping production costs lower. Grade conformity, which refers to supply of declared grade of coal and above, has improved to 76 per cent during 2023-24, from 70 per cent in the preceding year. 

Your company is planning to touch 1 billion tonnes in production by 2026-27. What are the plans in place to evacuate such large volume of coal? 

Aligning the increasing production with a well-laid transportation infrastructure becomes crucial to avoid evacuation bottlenecks. We are implementing three major rail infrastructure projects on deposit basis in MCL, CCL and SECL – the three CIL subsidiaries, which cumulatively account for 68 per cent of the 1 billion tonne target. We are also executing four similar projects on joint venture basis.

CIL is constructing 24 greenfield and brownfield railway sidings in four subsidiaries apart from renovating old sidings, strengthening overall rail connectivity between the sidings and the main rail lines. We are pursuing first mile connectivity projects, between production points and loading points, of 837 mt per year evacuation capacity. When we become fully functional by 2029-30, the total would go up to 988 mt, with 151 mt per year capacity already existing.

As one of the top Maharatna PSUs of the country, what are your commitments to society at large? 

We have a well-defined Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy in place; and, as a corporate citizen, CIL undertakes CSR activities across education, health, hygiene and sports, to help communities and uplift their socio-economic and cultural needs. We are among the top CSR spenders of the country and have utilised nearly Rs539 crore on CSR initiatives in 2023-24 against the statutory requirement of Rs425 crore – a 126.78 per cent achievement.

Our flagship CSR activity includes ‘Thalassemia Bal Sewa Yojana’, where we provide financial assistance to economically underprivileged children of below 12 years age, suffering from thalassemia, a rare genetic blood disorder, to help them recover and get on with their normal life. CIL has treated a total of 550 such children including those suffering from aplastic anemia.