Singareni miners at work in an underground mine.
| Photo Credit: By Arrangement
HYDERABAD
Despite the best of efforts to achieve the 72 million tonnes coal production target set for 2024-25, the Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) has stopped short of the target by 3 million tonnes with external circumstances such as higher price of the coal produced by the company impacting the off-take as also the production.
According to officials of the State Public Sector Undertaking (SPSU), the company could achieve coal production of 69.01 million tonnes with March alone contributing the record production of 8.91 million tonnes for a month. The production was higher even in 2023-24, when it crossed the 70 million tonnes (70.02) mark for the first time.
The company could not dispatch even the mined fossil-fuel in the just concluded fiscal with only 65.27 million tonnes coal dispatched against the target of 72 million tonnes (same as production). Except in November and December 2024 and January and March 2025, the month-wise coal production by SCCL during 2024-25 was much lesser in the remaining eight months compared to 2023-24.
The delay in commencement of coal production in the Naini Block in Odisha as also in a couple of opencast mines within the Singareni coal belt area, which were considered while setting the target for 2024-25, has also impacted the production. The company could not reach the production target though about 10 opencast mines achieved their target by February itself.
“Our (SCCL’s) focus will be on the higher use of technology/machinery in coal production and to bring down the overall production cost of coal by the company. The company is operating 22 underground and 17 opencast mines now, leading to an increase in the production cost”, a senior executive of SCCL told The Hindu, when contacted.
At the same time, the new opencast mines in Odisha, Chhattisgarh and a few other States are offering coal at a competitive price compared to Singareni. The company is also into diversification in areas such as solar power, geo-thermal and methanol production to keep the overall balance sheet of the company healthy in the long run.
Slump in the off-take of Singareni coal even by the non-thermal power companies such as cement, ceramic, sponge iron, pharma and others, which consume about 9 million tonnes coal from Singareni every year, has also led to lower dispatches and production by Singareni as availability of coal at a lower price from other coal companies and importers has turned them away from Singareni.
The reports that NTPC Ramagundam is also looking to source coal from other suppliers is also a worrying factor for Singareni as its coal is said to be costing NTPC ₹5,200 per tonne against ₹3,400 per tonne to ₹3,600 per tonne for coal from other suppliers.
Published – April 01, 2025 06:51 PM is
