Leaving behind the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on its performance last year, which was estimated over ₹5,000 crore, Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has regained its strength with the help of the recovery of economic activity and increase in the demand for energy and posted sales of ₹11,920 crore in the first half of the 2021-22 fiscal.
It is 67% higher compared to ₹7,131 crore sales achieved during the first six months of the last (2020-21) financial year. The growth includes 81% in coal sales and 19% in energy sales. In monetary terms, the growth in revenue from sales was ₹4,789 crore higher in the first half this year, compared to last year.
According to the company officials, the company has realised ₹10,071 crore revenue during the first six months of this fiscal against ₹5,573 crore achieved during the same period last year. The 81% growth in coal sales translates into revenue of ₹4,499 crore higher than last year for the six-month period.
Similarly, the revenue from sale of energy generated at its Singareni Thermal Power Plant in the first six months of 2021-22 is ₹290 crore more than what was achieved during the same period last year with a growth of 18.6%. Against energy sales of ₹1,559 crore in 2020-21 first half, it was ₹1,849 crore this year.
The company management has attributed the growth not only to the increase in demand but to the hard work of the workers and employees, focus on marketing strategies and COVID-19 control measures to prevent its spread and treat its employees from virus infection. It has spend ₹73 crore on vaccination and treatment of infected staff with improved infrastructure.
In terms of coal production, the company has achieved 65% growth, 75% in coal dispatches and 26% in the overburden removal during the first six months of 2021-22 compared to the same period of the last fiscal. The officials stated that the company has extracted 29.94 million tonnes (MT) of coal in six months this year against 18.1 MT last year.
Dispatches of coal were at 31.29 MT in the first six months of this fiscal against 17.9 MT during the same period last year. Similarly, the removal overburden during the April-September period this year was 166 million cubic meters (mcm) against 132 mcm removed during the same period last year.
The company management has complimented its workers for achieving 4.54 MT of coal production in September in spite of heavy rains against 3.34 MT achieved in September last year.