Coal India to invest ₹1,900 crore in R&D by FY30

Coal India Ltd (CIL) said on Tuesday it would invest nearly ₹1,900 crore in research and development (R&D) activities by FY2030 to improve productivity in its mines and reduce emissions.

With the investment, the company is aiming to commercialise cleaner coal technologies and also develop alternative energy sources in sync with the changing energy scene.

CIL's R&D initiative picked up momentum from the current fiscal (2024-25) with the establishment of a National Centre for Coal and Energy Research (NaCCER) on a hub-and-spoke structure, the company said in a filing to the BSE.


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Ever since, CIL moved past its proof-of-concept work to focus on prototype development at Technology Readiness Levels 4 and above.

CIL's R&D expenditure in 2024-25 is four times that of 2023-24 and stood at ₹245 crore, compared to ₹61 crore in the previous fiscal.

At present, the company is executing 19 R&D projects worth ₹225 crore at premier scientific institutions under the direct supervision of NaCCER. Besides, another 13 projects involving pilot scale research, and prototype development, are underway at its Centres of Excellence spread across several cities.

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The company also signed pacts with international collaborators including Ergo Exergy, Canada, for the Underground Coal Gasification Project at Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL); Ericsson, Sweden, for implementation of 5G technologies at its Jhanjra underground mine; and CSIRO, Australia, for advanced research collaboration.

CIL accounts for more than 80 per cent of India's domestic coal output.