Lok Sabha Question No. 6201 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-04-01
Subject: Coal Production and Import
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: Shri Anto Antony

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 6201

ANSWERED ON 01.04.2026

## COAL PRODUCTION AND IMPORT

## 6201. SHRI ANTO ANTONY:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has observed an increase in coal imports in the country in recent years and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the reasons for the increase in coal imports;
- (c) whether there has been any decline or stagnation in coal production by Coal India Limited and other coal-producing companies in recent years and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the quantity of coal imported by the country during the last five years, year-wise;
- (e) the details of coal production in the country during the last five years, year and State-wise; and
- (f) the steps taken by the Government to reduce dependence on coal imports and increase domestic coal production?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COAL AND MINES (SHRI SATISH CHANDRA DUBEY)

- (a): Coal imports in absolute terms has increased from 212.10 MT in 2014-15 to 243.63 MT in 202425. However, in terms of imported coal as percentage of total coal consumption, this has decreased from approx. 26% to 19% during this period.

In the current financial year 2025-26 (April, 2025 - January, 2026), coal import was 208.32 MT which is marginal higher by 1.4% compared to the same period during the financial year 2024-25.

- (b): Most of the requirement of coal in the country is met through indigenous coal production. Import of coal mainly consists of essential import like coking coal (by steel industry) and higher grade non-coking coal as their domestic production is limited due to either scarce reserves or non-availability.

It may be noted that power plants import coal primarily (i) due to requirement of Imported Coal Based (ICB) power plants which are specially designed to use imported coal, and (ii) for blending purpose by Domestic Coal Based (DCB) power plants.

Certain  industries,  such  as  cement,  captive  power  plants  (CPPs),  require  coal  with  specific  quality parameters, such as low ash content, higher calorific value, or specific sulphur levels, which may not be fully available from domestic sources.

Dependence on import of coking coal and high grade non-coking coal may continue.

Commercial decision of consumers also lead to imports when imported coal is comparatively cheaper. It may be noted that coal is under Open General Licence (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal.

(c): Coal production of Coal India Limited (CIL) has increased from 596.22 MT in 2020-21 to 781.06 MT in 2024-25. During the same period, production of Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) increased from 50.58 MT to 69.01 MT. The coal mining companies other than CIL and SCCL increased their production from 69.28 MT to 190.64 MT during that period.

The details of raw coal production of CIL, SCCL and other coal producing companies during last five years and during first 11 months of current financial year are given below:

(In Million Tonnes )

|                          | CIL        |            | SCCL       | SCCL       | Captive, Commercial and Others   | Captive, Commercial and Others   |
|--------------------------|------------|------------|------------|------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------|
| Year                     | Production | Growth (%) | Production | Growth (%) | Production                       | Growth (%)                       |
| 2020-21                  | 596.22     | -1.0       | 50.58      | -21.1      | 69.28                            | 7.1                              |
| 2021-22                  | 622.63     | 4.4        | 65.02      | 28.5       | 90.55                            | 30.7                             |
| 2022-23                  | 703.20     | 12.9       | 67.14      | 3.3        | 122.85                           | 35.7                             |
| 2023-24                  | 773.65     | 10.0       | 70.02      | 4.3        | 154.00                           | 25.4                             |
| 2024-25                  | 781.06     | 1.0        | 69.01      | -1.5       | 197.60                           | 28.3                             |
| 2025-26 (upto Feb, 2026) | 683.68     | -1.7       | 52.83      | -12.1      | 190.64                           | 9.7                              |

(d): The details of coal import from 2020-21 to 2024-25 and upto the month of January 2026 of current financial year are given below:

| Year                         | Quantity (in Million Tonnes)   |
|------------------------------|--------------------------------|
| 215.25                       | 2020-21                        |
| 208.63                       | 2021-22                        |
| 237.67                       | 2022-23                        |
| 264.53                       | 2023-24                        |
| 243.62                       | 2024-25                        |
| (Apr 2024 - Jan 2025) 205.47 |                                |
| (Apr 2025 - Jan 2026) 208.32 |                                |

- (e): The details of year-wise and State-wise coal production in India during the last five years is given below:
- (f): The steps taken by the Government to increase coal production in the country are as under:
- i. Enactment  of  Mines  and  Minerals  (Development  and  Regulation)  Amendment  Act,  2021  for enabling  captive  mine  owners  (other  than  atomic  minerals)  to  sell  up  to  50%  of  their  annual mineral (including coal) production in the open market after meeting the requirement of the end use plant linked with the mine.
- ii. Setting up Single Window Clearance portal for the coal sector to speed up operationalization of coal mines.
- iii. Project Management Unit (PMU) for hand-holding of coal block allottees for obtaining various approvals/ clearances for early operationalization of coal mines.
- iv. Auction of commercial mining on revenue sharing basis launched in 2020. Under this, rebate of 50% on final offer has been allowed for the quantity of coal produced earlier than scheduled date of production. Further, incentives on coal gasification or liquefaction (rebate of  50 % on final offer) have been granted.
- v. Terms and conditions of commercial coal mining are very liberal with no restriction on utilization of coal, allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against monthly payment, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility  to  operationalize  the  coal  mines,  transparent  bidding  process,  100%  Foreign  Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route and revenue sharing model based on the National Coal Index.

| (In Million Tonnes)   | (In Million Tonnes)   | (In Million Tonnes)   | (In Million Tonnes)   | (In Million Tonnes)   | (In Million Tonnes)   |
|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|-----------------------|
| State                 | 2020-21               | 2021-22               | 2022-23               | 2023-24               | 2024-25               |
| Assam                 | 0.04                  | 0.03                  | 0.20                  | 0.20                  | 0.20                  |
| Chhattisgarh          | 158.41                | 154.12                | 184.90                | 207.26                | 204.95                |
| Jammu &Kashmir        | 0.01                  | 0.01                  | 0.01                  | 0.01                  | 0.01                  |
| Jharkhand             | 123.43                | 130.10                | 156.48                | 191.16                | 206.19                |
| Madhya Pradesh        | 132.53                | 137.98                | 146.03                | 159.23                | 167.57                |
| Maharastra            | 47.44                 | 56.53                 | 63.62                 | 69.28                 | 70.78                 |
| Odisha                | 154.15                | 185.07                | 218.98                | 239.40                | 269.36                |
| Telangana             | 52.60                 | 67.23                 | 69.64                 | 72.52                 | 71.51                 |
| Uttar Pradesh         | 17.02                 | 18.07                 | 20.54                 | 21.51                 | 20.86                 |
| West Bengal           | 30.46                 | 29.07                 | 32.80                 | 37.26                 | 36.09                 |
| Total                 | 716.08                | 778.21                | 893.19                | 997.83                | 1047.52               |

## · The steps taken by the Government to reduce coal import dependency are as under:

- i. Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ) has been increased upto 100% of the normative requirement, in cases where ACQ was either reduced to 90% of normative requirement (non-coastal power plants) or where ACQ was reduced to 70% of normative requirement (coastal power plants).
- ii. Vide amendment to the Non-Regulated Sector (NRS) linkage auction policy, the tenure of coking coal linkages in the NRS linkage auction has been revised for a period upto 30 years.

- iii. Government has decided in 2022 that the coal to meet the full Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) requirement of all the existing linkage holders of Power Sector shall be made available by the coal companies irrespective of the trigger level and ACQ levels.
- iv. An Inter - Ministerial Committee (IMC) was constituted in the Ministry of Coal on 29.05.2020 for the purpose of coal import substitution. On directions of IMC, an Import Data System has been developed by Ministry of Coal to enable the Ministry to track import of coal.
- v. A new sub-sector 'Steel using Coking coal through WDO route' has been created in March, 2024 under the NRS linkage auctions to increase domestic coking coal consumption, thereby, reducing coking coal imports.
- vi. Coking Coal Mission has been launched to enhance coking coal supply to the Steel Sector to reduce imports of coking coal.
- vii. Imported Coal Based (ICB) Plants have been allowed to secure coal under the Revised SHAKTI Policy, 2025.
- viii. Existing  Fuel  Supply  Agreement  (FSA)  holders  have  been  allowed  to  secure  coal  under  the Revised SHAKTI Policy, 2025 after procuring 100% of the ACQ coal under existing FSA.

## · In addition to the above, coal companies have taken the following steps to increase domestic coal production:

- i. Coal India Limited (CIL), in its Underground (UG) mines, is adopting new and modern techniques like Mass Production Technologies (MPT) with the deployment of Continuous Miners (CMs), Longwall (LW) and Highwall (HW) wherever feasible. In its Opencast (OC) mines, CIL already has State-of-the-Art technology in its high capacity Excavators and Dumpers. Standardization of Heavy Earth Moving Machinery (HEMM) has been done in opencast mines. Surface Miners are also deployed in opencast mines for efficient and eco-friendly mining. Digital transformation has been implemented on pilot scale in 7 of its mega mines.
- ii. Regular  liaison  is  being  undertaken  by  Singareni  Collieries  Company  Limited  (SCCL)  for expediting the grant of permissions and clearances for grounding of new projects and operation of existing projects. SCCL has initiated action for developing infrastructure for evacuation of coal like Coal Handling Plants (CHPs), Crushers, Mobile Crushers, Pre-weigh-bins etc.

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