CIL not in the business of importing coal, says acting chief

KOLKATA: Days after a direction from the PMO to make adequate coal supplies to power producers on its own or through imports, state-run CIL today said the company is "not in the business of importing coal".

Addressing a press conference here, Coal India's acting Chairperson Zohra Chatterji said the company had tried in the past to go in for imports but it could not get a firm demand from power producers then.

When asked whether Coal India Ltd (CIL) would now go in for imports and what would be the mechanism for it in the wake of directions from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), she said, "We are not in the business of importing coal....it is one of the way to meet the demand theoretically."

PMO on February 15 had decided that the CIL -- the largest coal producer-- would sign 20-year fuel supply pacts with power plants that have been commissioned or would get commissioned on or before March 31, 2015.

The move was to provide relief to power units with estimated capacity of 50,000 MW, the PMO had said.

Chatterji, who is also the Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry, said, the company has so far not received any communication from the government on the PMO decision, including coal imports.