After a disappointing June quarter, Coal India Ltd (CIL) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs369 crore for the quarter to September, a 40% decline from the year earlier. That’s way below what analysts were pencilling in. For instance, Kotak Institutional Equities and Prabhudas Lilladher Pvt. Ltd were expecting the coal miner to report a net profit of Rs1,483 crore and Rs1,844 crore, respectively.

A key factor that drove the miss was that CIL made a provision of Rs2,300 crore towards wage settlement in its employee costs, while analysts were considering a lower number. What also adversely affected profitability was that other income dropped sharply by 56% year-on-year (y-o-y).

Auction of reserves selected for commercial mining is likely to be completed by the end of March, and this is likely to end state-owned Coal India's near monopoly in the domestic market.

On the sidelines of the 7th Asian Mining Congress & Exhibition, Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar said the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs might take a decision on the commercial mining proposal this month. Allocations would be completed by the end of this financial year.

A little over 11,500 MW of thermal generation capacities from 36 power units at 27 stations are idling due to want of coal. These plants, some of which have been shut for about three months, were to receive the dry fuel from Coal India.

According to data compiled by the government, as of October 31, 500 MW unit at the Mejia Thermal Power Station and 600 MW unit at Raghunathpur have been lying idle for about three months. The reason is shortage of coal.

Calcutta: Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, a Coal India subsidiary, will examine the showcause notices carrying penalty worth Rs 20,169 crore issued by the Odisha government for violating mining plans, environmental norms and other regulations.

The respective deputy directors of the mines in the Talcher, Rourkela and Sambalpur circles have issued 24 notices on October 31, 2017, to the project officers of different mining projects of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. The subsidiary received these notices on November 1, 2017.

Coal India plans to rationalise supply sources for private power producers to reduce the distance over which coal is carried in an effort to cut transport and generation costs. The state-run monopoly will soon invite private generators to participate in the scheme.

A similar exercise was undertaken for state-run power units two years ago, aiming to reduce costs by almost Rs 6,000 crore by feeding each plant with coal from the closest mine instead of transporting it over long distances.

Rejecting Nalco's claim that three units of the PSU's captive power plants were shut due to fuel shortage, the coal ministry on Monday said there is ample dispatch of coal to the PSU which has a regular supply of 4.7 MTPA dry fuel, more than the committed quantity by Coal India.

"It is stated that contrary to the recent media news, attributing the closure of three units of Nalco's captive power plant due to a shortage of coal leading to curtailment of aluminium production, the ground reality is totally different," the Coal Ministry said in a statement.

Two of the biggest states in the country, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, have around 40 per cent of their generation capacity under outage due to coal shortage.

Data with the Central Electricity Authority says of the installed 32,973 Mw in Maharashtra, 13,555 Mw is under outage. In Rajasthan, 4,865 Mw of the installed 11,114 Mw is shut down.

KOLKATA: Coal India workers may be celebrating the 20% salary increase they won after a hard bargain, but with every such hike, the monopoly state-owned company may be rendering itself uncompetitive in terms of production cost just when the sector is set to be opened soon for private commercial mining.

Following the salary revision, labour accounts for 55% of the cost of production at Coal India compared with 50% previously and about 22% for most private coal miners.

Calcutta, Oct. 10: Coal India has signed a five-year wage agreement with its workers' unions, which will have an estimated impact of Rs 5,667 crore annually on the public sector miner.

The "Memorandum of Agreement for National Coal Wage Agreement-X has been signed on October 10 for a period of five years from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2021", Coal India said in a filing to the BSE today.

In order to address the power sector's complaints of coal shortage, state-owned behemoth Coal India is stepping up its efforts to meet the demand.

"Coal India Limited posted robust 10 per cent growth in coal production, 21 per cent in off-take to power sector, and 19 per cent in rake loading during the month of September," said the company in an emailed response addressing concerns on coal supply.

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