Govt plans to further reduce coal imports

The government aims to save Rs 40,000 crore in foreign exchange on account of lower coal imports this year, Mr Piyush Goyal, Coal and Power Minister, told reporters after the launch of the web portal on ‘Contract Labour Payment Management System’ here.

This is attributed to Coal India Ltd’s (CIL) output for this fiscal being fixed at 598 million tonnes. CIL accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal production, and helped reduce the country’s import bill by around Rs 28,000 crore last fiscal, he said.

There is not a single coal-based power plant in the country which has critical coal stock position. The thermal power plants have an average coal stock of 26-27 days, the Minister added.