At the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India's (ASSOCHAM) 3rd International Coal Conference held in New Delhi on Wednesday, June 6, India's former coal secretary Alok Perti pointed out that the management of the Indian state-owned coal miner Coal India Limited (CIL) should be improved and the company should focus on production to meet demand instead of looking at margins.
Former coal secretary stated that CIL has been unable to increase production during the last few years to achieve its targets due to lack of modernization, adding that initial public offer objectives have failed to a great extent.
D. C. Garg, managing director of Western Coal Fields Limited, said that CIL has an important place in the Indian coal industry since its market share which currently stands at 82 percent will not drop below 75 percent, with captive mining contributing 101.4 million mt. Another speaker at the event, Sandeep Jajodia, chairman of Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd, noted that the government should play an important role to increase domestic coal production and extend every support to both private corporations and public sector undertakings engaged in coal mining.
Additionally, Rajkumar Dhooti president of ASSOCHAM, indicated that coal demand has rapidly increased in accordance with India's economic growth since it is a preferred source of power generation in the country, while he underlined that there is a huge gap between coal demand and actual production which has been affected by the implementation of strict environmental laws.
According to an ASSOCHAM study, India has the fifth largest proven coal reserves in the world and contributes around six percent of global coal production.