Coal India Q1 e-auction sales up 87% at Rs4,700 crore
Premium- India’s power sector is the largest consumer of coal in the country, with CIL being the largest coal miner. Coal fuelled electricity generation remains the mainstay of India’s power mix
NEW DELHI: State-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) e-auction sales rose 87% for the quarter ended 30 June to Rs4,700 crore, India’s largest coal miner said in a statement on Thursday.
This comes in the backdrop of CIL lifting the embargo on coal exports under its e-auction sales policy. Coal purchasers including traders can export coal bought through this route. This assumes significance given that CIL is India’s largest coal miner, with the allocation under spot e-auction and special spot e-auction accounting for 46 million tonnes (mt) of coal in FY21.
“With the demand for coal slowly rebounding, Coal India’s (CIL) actual e-auction sales of 30.2 million tonnes (MTs), during Q1 F’22, netted the company over Rs.4,700 Crores, a 87% year-on-year jump. Auction sales were down at 15.9 MTs, during pandemic slowdown, as of the first quarter of last fiscal," as per the statement.
India’s power sector is the largest consumer of coal in the country, with CIL being the largest coal miner. Coal fuelled electricity generation remains the mainstay of India’s power mix. Of India’s installed power generation capacity of 382.15 gigawatts (GW), the coal fuelled projects account for 53% or 202.67 GW.
“CIL’s e-auction allocation at 35.5 MTs during April-July’21, under five auction categories, spiked up by nearly 8 million tonnes (MTs) registering a sharp 28.6% over same period year ago, when the allocation stood at 27.6 MTs," the statement said.
There is a higher fuel demand from the power sector, with India’s electricity demand growth on an upward trajectory after it had dipped during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. India’ peak electricity demand breached the 200-gigawatt (GW) mark and registered a new record last month.
“With international coal prices spiraling upwards with no signs of let up, consumer preference for domestic coal is seemingly gaining ground," the statement said.
CIL’s production target is 670 mt for the current financial year. India’s overall coal requirement is expected to go up to 1,123 mt by 2023 from the present level of 700 mt.
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"The effect of ascending cost of coal sourced from overseas was evidenced in the country’s coal importers booking 70% of the total quantity of 2.4 MTs offered to them under their special spot e-auction during April-July’21. The add-on over the notified price under this category was 52%," the statement said.
India has the world’s fourth largest reserves and is the second-largest producer of coal. With global shift to green energy to address growing environmental concerns, the Indian government is trying to harness coal reserves within the next three decades.
“Interestingly, for the month of July’21 almost all the quantity of 1.6 MTs offered to coal importers under exclusive special e-auction window was booked," the statement added.
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