HEADLINES:  

The Indian coal industry is set to reach 1.5 billion tons by 2020 in capacity. That’s primarily because the Indian government wants to ensure that it is able to meet the country’s power generation needs. The power generation companies account for over 70 percent of the country’s use of coal.

Cement is the next biggest at 5 percent. The steel sector is also another important consumer of coal. India has large reserves of coal, the fifth-largest in the world, according to one estimate. It’s also the world’s third-biggest producer of thermal coal.


In 2014-2015, Coal India increased its output by 32 million tons, the sharpest acceleration it’s seen in 40 years. India imports about 15 percent of its coal demand, much of which comes from Indonesia. The government claims that by 2017, it won’t have to import coal. Coal imports have shrunk by 4.5 percent this year, according to the Coal Ministry. Almost 80 percent of India's coal is produced by Coal India, the biggest coal producing company in the world.

Between April and November 2015, Coal India's production jumped 8.8 percent to 321.38 MT, according to the Ministry of Coal. Its goal for 2015-16 is to produce 550 million tons of coal. The government is also trying to encourage more privatization in the Coal sector, with a bill it passed in March 2016 called the Coal Mines Special Provision Bill. Under this law, private companies and foreign companies can undertake commercial coal mining. All of these moves will go a long way in ensuring that the Indian coal industry does well in 2016.