INDIA DATA: Coal output rises 15% on year to 892 mil mt in FY 2022-23

India's coal output rose 14.65% on the year to 892.21 million mt in the financial year 2022-23 (April-March), federal coal minister Pralhad Joshi said on his Twitter account March 31.

No official statement, however, has been issued yet on coal output for FY 2022-23 by the federal coal ministry, but India's prime minister Narendra Modi responded from his official Twitter account April 3, saying that "Outstanding accomplishment in an important sector for economic growth."

State-run Coal India Ltd. produced 703.20 million mt coal in FY 2022-23, up 12.9% on the year, the company said April 1. Its output increased 4% year on year to 83.5 million mt in March.

Coal inventories at Indian power plants, in the meantime, have remained healthy amid improvements seen in February. Coal stockpiles at Indian power plants stood at 35.54 million mt March 26, sufficient for less than 13 days of burn, according to latest data by the Central Electricity Authority of India. Stocks were at 33.66 million mt as of Feb. 28.

India has been focusing on increasing domestic output to reduce imports. However, federal commerce ministry data shows coal imports over April-January were 15.9% higher on year at 200.41 million mt.

To reduce import dependency, India has been auctioning coal mines to private enterprises, which are expected to commence production as they become operational in another two-three years. India launched the auction process of 106 commercial coal mines March 29.

Through commercial mining, producers are allowed to sell coal anywhere without any ceiling price restrictions, with a portion of the revenue must be shared with the state governments.

The auction process was first launched in November 2020, and over 90 mines with around 225 million mt peak rated capacity, or PRC, have been sold via auction to date. The PRC indicates a mine's maximum annual output after a few years of operation.

Separately, although more than 200 coal mines have been put up for auction by the government through the commercial mining route, most of the coal blocks could not be allocated due to inadequate interest from miners.