Lok Sabha Question No. 2510 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-26
Subject: Profitability of Coal Mines
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, P.R. SUNDARAM, DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2510 TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.12.2018

## Profitability of Coal Mines

## 2510.   SHRI SATAV RAJEEV:

SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE:

DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT:

DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN:

SHRI P.R. SUNDARAM:

SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK:

SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a)        whether the Government has assessed the performance and profitability of coal mines in the country and if so, the names of the coal mines which are running in profit/losses;
- (b)        the details of the coal mines which are likely to be closed down after completion of the extraction work and the total decline registered in coal production due to abandoning/closing down of these coal mines along with the estimated loss to be incurred thereby in future;
- (c)        the steps taken by the Government to make good/compensate the losses/ shortages in the coal production;
- (d)       whether the Government has formulated any scheme for the exploration and operation of small/closed/abandoned coal mines and new mining regions and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e)         the  other  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  increase  domestic  coal  production  and reduce the import of coal?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COAL

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

- (a)  to (c):  The information is being collected and will be laid on the Table of the House.
- (d): The Ministry of Coal, Government of India formulated two scheme for the exploration i.e.  (i)  Promotional  (Regional)  Exploration  (ii)  Detailed  Drilling  in  Non-CIL  blocks.  The fresh coal resources and in turn new mining regions are identified by Promotional/ Regional exploration, followed by Detailed Drilling. The year wise drilling in coal through Promotional (Regional) Exploration and Detailed Drilling under Ministry of Coal are given below:

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Figures in lakh Meter

| Item                              |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19(up to November, 2018) |
|-----------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|---------------------------------|
| Promotional(Regional) Exploration |      1.39 |      1.12 |      1.05 |      1.35 |                            0.81 |
| Detailed Drilling                 |      2.82 |      2.87 |      3.09 |      4.86 |                            3.24 |

(e): There  has  been  a  consistent  effort  to  increase  domestic  coal  production  so  as  to reduce  dependence on coal  imports.  The  all  India  raw  coal  production  has  increased  from 565.77  MT  in  2013  -  14  to  676.48  MT  in  2017  -  18.  Absolute  increase  in  all  India  coal production from 2013 - 14 to 2017 - 18 (four years) is 110.71 MT as compared to increase of coal production of  33.73 MT from 2009 - 10 to 2013 - 14 (four years). Coal India Limited (CIL) has also increased its production from 462.41 MT in 201314 to 567.36 MT in 2017 - 18 (four years), an absolute increase of 105 MT as compared to increase of coal production of 31.15 MT between 2009 - 10 and 2013 - 14 (four years). Further, in the current year during April -November,  2018,  all India coal production   was  433.90  MT  with  a  growth  rate  of  9.8%  and  coal  production  of  CIL  was 358.32 MT  with a growth rate of 8.8% over the corresponding period of previous year. Several steps have been taken by Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries to augment coal production which includes capacity addition from new projects, capacity enhancement of existing mines, use of mass production technologies and exploration for new Coal blocks. The  focus  of  the  Government  is  on  increasing  the  domestic  production  of  coal which   includes  efforts  to  expedite  Environment  &  Forest  clearances,  pursuing  with  State Government  for  assistance  in  land  acquisition  and  coordinated  efforts  with  Railways  for movement of coal. However,  coking  coal  will  continue  to  be  imported  as  there  is  limited  availability of   coking  coal  in  the  country.  Further,  power  plants  designed  on  imported  coal  will  also

continue to import coal.