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Informist, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026

 

By Avishek Rakshit

 

KOLKATA – Coal India Ltd. has outlined its priorities for the current financial year as the state-owned mining giant continues to focus on diversifying its portfolio and reduce reliance on coal. The company is set to focus on improving coal production and evacuation, deepen its presence in the newly formed renewable energy portfolio and coal gasification, and maintain financial discipline, while it wades towards producing 815 million tonnes of coal in the financial year 2026-27 (Apr-Mar), a senior company official said Monday. The comments come amid improved domestic coal demand and surplus supply.

 

"As we look to the year ahead, your company will continue to focus on strengthening production, and evacuation capacity, deepening our presence in renewable energy and coal gasification, and maintaining the financial discipline that has allowed us to reward our shareholders consistently," Chairman and Managing Director B. Sairam told the company's shareholders at its 52nd annual general meeting.

 

Although Coal India forayed into solar power generation in 2014, it was mainly for captive needs. It was only in 2021 that the company first took steps towards building a commercially viable solar power portfolio by securing a 100 megawatt solar project in a reverse auction held by Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd. 

 

Sairam said Coal India, besides targeting 1 billion tonnes of coal production by 2030, will set up 9.5 gigawatt of solar power capacity by 2030. "In the renewable energy vertical, Coal India commissioned its first 100 MW solar plant at Patan in Gujarat on May 4 and we also commissioned 200 MW of our 300 MW Khavda solar project, also in Gujarat, on July 8," Sairam said. 

 

Notably, Coal India reported net profit of INR 15.6 million on revenues of INR 56.8 million from solar power projects for Apr-Jun. This was the first time the company disclosed solar as a reporting vertical in its quarterly results. Previously, Coal India had only reported coal as the reporting segment and included profits from its fertiliser-producing joint venture companies.

 

Sairam said plans have already started rolling out on the company's coal gasification venture, which several senior company officials eye as the next step towards growth for Coal India. He said the foundation stone for the first commercial coal gasification project was laid in June and he is bullish on the developments. "With an investment of around INR 25,000 crore (INR 250 billion) and an annual capacity of 6.6 lakh tonnes (0.66 million tonnes) of ammonium nitrate, this represents an important step in converting abundant coal reserves into new products and creating new industrial markets," Sairam said. 

 

Earlier this month, Coal India signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India Pvt. Ltd. for exploring the possibility of utilising synthetic gas produced from coal gasification.

 

Sairam said coal production and dispatches were negatively affected this financial year on account of "unusually heavy rainfall" in some of its core mining areas, and some evacuation challenges. Besides production, Coal India plans to increase its evacuation infrastructure by deploying first-mile connectivity projects, scale up its dedicated rail network, and deploy mechanised loading. 

 

"Nine first-mile connectivity projects became operational during the year and mechanised evacuation capacity is being scaled up further from around 151 million tonnes per annum to nearly 994 million tonnes per annum at an investment of roughly INR 25,600 crore (INR 256 billion) across 72 identified projects which is supported by various strategic partnerships," he said. 

 

Monday, shares of Coal India ended at INR 401.75 on the National Stock Exchange, up slightly from Friday.  End

 

Edited by Shubhayan Bhattacharya

 

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