Coal India misses output target for 5th consecutive month

State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) missed the output target for the fifth consecutive month producing 34.88 million tonnes (MT) of coal in September against targeted 36.17 MT even as acute fuel shortages continue to hit power generation.

In the first six months of the current fiscal, Coal India has produced 210.76 MT of coal against a target of 220.11 MT, the company said in a filing to the BSE.

In August, the output was 34.54 MT against the target of 35.13 MT. In July it achieved a production of 33.01 MT (35.86), in June it was 34.54 MT (36.84).

In May, the output was 36.27 MT against target of 38.46 MT.

As per the latest data (September 29) by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), 56 coal-based power plants reported critical fuel stocks of less than seven days.

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had earlier asked Coal India to ramp up production from its existing mines.

CIL, which accounts for 80 per cent of domestic coal production, missed its output target of 482 million tonnes for 2013-14, producing 462 million tonnes during the period.

Production fell short of target because of various reasons, including lack of environment clearance to coal mining projects.

In 2012-13, the company produced 452.5 million tonnes of coal, falling short of the 464 MT target.

Coal India's production target for 2014-15 has been set at 507 MT.