New Delhi, 02 August (H.S.): India's coal production has crossed the one-billion-tonne mark after the implementation of the commercial coal mining regime. Since June 2020, a total of 141 commercial coal mines have been auctioned in 14 rounds. Once fully operational, these mines are expected to generate annual revenue of around ₹47,000 crore and create approximately 4.75 lakh employment opportunities.

The Ministry of Coal said on Sunday that the country's coal production stood at 1,047.52 million tonnes in 2024-25 and 1,040.08 million tonnes in 2025-26. In comparison, coal production was 609.18 million tonnes in 2014-15. According to the ministry, captive and commercial coal mines have played a crucial role in this growth, with their contribution to national coal production increasing from 10.9 percent in 2021-22 to 20.2 percent in 2025-26.

The ministry stated that India has the world's fifth-largest coal reserves and is the second-largest coal producer and consumer globally. Coal accounts for nearly 55 percent of India's primary energy requirements, while more than 70 percent of electricity generation is dependent on coal.

After the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of 204 coal blocks in 2014, the government introduced a transparent auction-based system for coal allocation. Under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative, commercial coal mining was launched on June 18, 2020, allowing private companies to sell coal in the open market.

The Ministry of Coal said that since June 2020, 141 coal mines with a combined annual production capacity of 366.35 million tonnes have been auctioned through 14 rounds. Of these, 123 mines have been allocated to private companies, while 44 successful bidders are new entrants who had never undertaken coal mining earlier. The average revenue-sharing rate stood at 24.17 percent, nearly six times higher than the prescribed minimum of four percent.

In 2025-26, captive and commercial coal mines collectively produced 210.46 million tonnes of coal, crossing the 200-million-tonne mark for the first time. Commercial coal mines contributed 26.12 million tonnes to this output, with 23 commercial mines currently operational.

According to the ministry, the complete operationalisation of all auctioned commercial coal mines is expected to attract capital investment of around ₹48,756 crore. Revenue generated through premiums has also increased significantly, rising from ₹461 crore in 2014-15 to ₹5,553 crore in 2025-26.

The ministry said the approval process has been streamlined to ensure faster production from all auctioned mines. As a result, the timeline for operationalising fully explored mines has been reduced from 51 months to 40 months, while the timeframe for partially explored mines has been brought down from 66 months to 52 months.

---------------

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar