Coal India shares rise 3.5% as arm posts record growth in production in Feb

NEW DELHI – Shares of Coal India shot up more than 3.5 per cent in early trade on Monday as BCCL – a subsidiary of the state-owned firm - posted a record 61 per cent growth in its production to 3.24 million tonne (mt) in February this year over the corresponding month last fiscal.

Coal India’s scrip climbed to a high of Rs 187.65 as against Rs 181 at the previous close on the National Stock Exchange.

Meanwhile, benchmark indices took a tumble as a massive surge in crude oil prices amid the war in Ukraine eroded risk appetite.

At 9:25 am the BSE Sensex and the Nifty 50 were down 2.6 per cent and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

Bharat Coking Coal (BCCL), a Dhanbad-based subsidiary of the Maharatna public sector undertaking, also claimed that it registered the highest off-take growth of around 66 per cent to 2.93 MT during the last month, PTI reported.

"BCCL has achieved a record growth in coal production and dispatch in February 2022 as compared to the same month last fiscal," the miner said in the statement on March 5.

The output increased by 61 per cent in the last month to 3.24 MT as compared to 2.01 MT in February 2021. The coal off-take was at 2.93 MT last month, up by 66 per cent from 1.76 MT in the year-ago month, BCCL said, according to PTI’s report.

After the 2018-19 performance, the Coal India subsidiary is going to produce and dispatch over 30 MT of the dry fuel for the first time, overcoming all challenges such as market slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic and prolonged monsoon season, PTI reported.