Government asks Coal India to meet production target for FY14: report

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has asked state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) to ensure that it meets production target for the current fiscal year (FY14), according to a a ministry official. 

"The Coal Minister has asked CIL to make sure that it meets its production and offtake targets for the current fiscal," the official from the Coal Ministry said.

The ministry has set production target of 482 million tonne (MT) and offtake of 492 MT for CIL for 2013-14.

The message was communicated to the company during the target review meeting held on November 27 in Kolkata, the official said.

The meeting chaired by Mr Jaiswal was attended by Coal India chairman and managing director S Narsing Rao and other officials of the PSU and its subsidiaries, the official added.

CIL produced 35.03 MT coal in October, missing its target of 40.82 MT. It also missed the offtake target of 41.55 MT for the month. It registered actual offtake of 35.51 MT.

According to a CIL official, the PSU suffered production loss in October due to Cyclone Phailin, which affected the key coal producing states of Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Mr Jaiswal had earlier said that though production at CIL has been hit in October due to Cyclone Phailin, the coal major was "hopeful that it will achieve its production target for the current fiscal".

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic production, contributed 452.5 MT of coal in the previous financial year compared with the target of 464 MT.