(UNI) As per International Energy Agency (IEA), India is the third largest coal producer in the world during 2016-17 and there is no shortage of coal in the country.
As on April 1, 2018, the vendible stock of coal was 55.6 MT and as on December 15, 2018, coal stock was 22.93 MT with CIL, official sources said.
All India raw coal production has increased from 565.77 MT in 2013-14 to 676.48 MT in 2017-18. The all India coal production during April-November 2018 was 433.90 MT with a growth of 9.8 per cent over the corresponding period of the previous year 2017-18.
Under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act 2015 and Rules made thereunder, so far 25 coal mines (24 to private companies and 1 to a Government Company) have been allocated through Electronic Auction till date.
As per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty.
