CIL sales up 8.6 per cent in Apr-Dec, production at 295mt

NEW DELHI: The Coal Ministry on Tuesday said Coal India has reported a 8.6 per cent growth in sales during the April-December period compared to the year-ago period, recording 295.52 million tonne raw coal production.

The production by the country's largest coal producer in the period saw an increase of 19.77mt during the period over the same period last year.

"While production (of CIL) through opencast mines was 263.81mt, the underground production was 31.71mt. Gross sales during the period was Rs 37,546.67 crore against Rs 34,580.87 crore during the same period last year," a ministry statement said here on Tuesday.

Further, the state-owned Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) also posted a production growth of 15.25 per cent during the first three quarters, the ministry statement said.

"NLC exceeded its targets in all activities namely lignite production, over burden removal and power generation during April-December. The growth rate was 15.25 per cent (lignite), 11.7 per cent (overburden removal) and 15.25 per cent(power generation) respectively," the statement said.

Earlier, reviewing the performance of CIL and NLC, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal directed the ministry officials and heads of these companies to achieve 100 per cent production targets to support the economy.