Power sector sees 6 pc fall in coal supply from CIL

New Delhi: The supply of coal to the power sector by state-owned CIL saw a fall of 6 per cent at 33.7 million tonnes last month, even as the government claimed in October that the demand for fossil fuel has started picking up.

The dispatch of dry fuel by Coal India Ltd (CIL) to the power sector in November last year stood at 35.9 million tonnes (MT), according to government data said.

The supply of coal by CIL in April-November period of the ongoing fiscal also dropped by 4 per cent to 250.7 MT, over 261.4 MT in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The supply of coal by Singareni Collieries Company (SCCL) during the April-November period was almost flat at 31.3 MT against 31.1 MT in the year-ago period. SCCL is a government coal mining company jointly owned by Telangana and the Centre on a 51:49 equity basis.

The government, in October, had said that there were no plans to cut down coal production as the demand had already picked up.

In October, the demand started picking up for both coal and power sectors, it had said.

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, is eyeing 598 MT production in 2016-17.

CIL has a target to produce 1 billion tonnes of fossil fuel by 2020.