PM Prasad, who assumed the charge of chairman-cum-managing director of state-run Coal India (CIL) from Saturday, said the company would achieve the 780 million tonne (MT) output target for this fiscal with “all efforts and means available at its disposal”.

“On supply side, ensuring uninterrupted coal flow to the power sector is another priority area,” Prasad said, according to a stock exchange filing by CIL.

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Before donning the mantle of Coal India’s top post, Prasad was holding charge of CMD of Jharkhand-based Central Coalfields (CCL), a CIL arm, from September 1, 2020.

He began his career at Coal India, the world’s largest coal mining company, in 1984 as a management trainee at Western Coalfields and served in different capacities across different CIL subsidiaries. He also had a three-year stint at NTPC as an executive director (coal mining).

Prasad’s predecessor Pramod Agrawal relinquished charge as CMD of Coal India with effect from Friday on attaining superannuation.

Notably, the miner, which accounts for around 80% of India’s annual coal output, is targeting production of 780 MT in the current financial year. The ministry of coal has finalised the total coal production target of 1,012 MT for FY24.

During the last fiscal, the coal behemoth’s production stood at 703.2 MT, registering a 12.9% growth year-on-year.

CIL on Saturday said bolstering the 780 MT target chase, production during the first quarter of this fiscal shot up to 175.5 MT, the highest ever recorded during first quarter of any year, with near 10% growth.

During the quarter, expansion in volume terms was 15.7 MT, which was significant as it came over a high base of 159.8 MT in similar quarter previous fiscal.

Production for the month of June at 58 MT grew by 6.4 MT, posting a double digit growth of 12.4% compared to 51.6 MT in June, 2022. “Output could have been even higher but for the heavy rainfall in the last week of June across our mining areas,” said a senior executive of CIL.

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Coal India’s over burden removal (OBR) continued its runaway pace as the company excavated 497.5 million cubic metres (M.CuM) of OB during April-June 2023 period with the comparative period growth hovering high at around 30%. “This is an encouraging signal for us that facilitates faster future production” the executive added.

Total supplies during the June quarter of FY24 were 187 MT, posting 5.3% growth compared to 177.5 MT for the corresponding period of FY23. Volume increase was 9.5 MTs.

Non-power sector consumers continued to receive higher quantities of coal in the current fiscal, which at the first quarter end stood at 33.4 MT, registering a robust growth of 34%. During the comparative quarter last fiscal supplies to this sector were 24.8 MT.