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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2026

 

KOLKATA – The government has released a discussion paper on monetary valuation of coal reserves in India and issued an open invitation for comments and feedback from experts, researchers, government agencies, and international organisations on the same. Responses to the discussion paper will assist in finalising a standardised methodology for monetary valuation of non-renewable mineral resources within India's national accounts framework. 

 

Accurate and transparent monetary valuation of India's mineral and energy resources will serve as a foundational input for data-driven policymaking and sustainable development, the government said in a statement Wednesday.

 

Titled 'Methodological Approaches for Compilation of Monetary Asset Accounts of Coal in India', the discussion paper is aligned with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting, or SEEA Central Framework, which is endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as an international statistical standard.

 

Since 2018, the government has been following the UN SEEA framework and compiling physical asset accounts for coal and other mineral and energy resources through the 'EnviStats India series' and 'Energy Statistics India'. Building on this, the government said in the statement that it has taken a step further by initiating the experimental monetary valuation and compilation of monetary asset accounts for mineral and energy resources.

 

The monetary valuation of environmental assets provides a measure of the economic value embodied in India's natural resource endowment, enables assessment of depletion costs, supports the estimation of future government revenues from resource extraction, and facilitates comparison across different environmental assets. The National Mineral Policy, 2019 mandates sustainable mining practices, making such valuation directly relevant to India's policy framework.

 

Coal has been selected as the illustrative case for the discussion paper given its strategic importance to India's economy. As the nation's most abundant domestic energy resource, coal accounts for the majority of India's electricity generation and supports a wide range of core industries, including steel, cement, and chemicals. 

 

India achieved record raw coal production of over 1 billion tonnes during 2024-25 (Apr-Mar), underscoring the resource's centrality to India's energy security and the Atmanirbhar Bharat vision. At the same time, as a non-renewable resource, the need for its sustainable management makes monetary asset valuation all the more important.  End

 

Reported by Avishek Rakshit

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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