Coal production grew 10.8% in December

FILE – A woman works at a coal depot in Ahmedabad, India
| Photo Credit: Ajit Solanki

India’s coal production increased by 10.8% in December 2022 to almost 83 million tonne (MT) from 74.8 MT a year earlier, with coal despatched from pitheads to consuming industries rising 5.28% to almost 79 MT.  

As per provisional data from the Coal Ministry, December 2022 was the second straight month of double-digit growth in coal output. Production levels for the first nine months of 2022-23 were 16.4% higher at 608 MT, compared with 522.34 MT produced in the same period of 2021-22.

Coal production has a weightage of 10.33% in the Index of Core Industries (ICI), which in turn constitutes about 40% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP).

Coal production growth had slowed from 12% in September to 3.7% in October when core sectors grew just 0.9% and the IIP showed a 4% decline in India’s factory output.  

In November, coal was one of the three core sectors to record double-digit growth, with output rising 12.3%. electricity output grew 12.1% while cement production rose 28.6%, even as the eight core sectors recorded a 5.4% growth in November.  

Coal despatches to power utilities increased by 4.26% to 65.65 MT during December 2022, the Ministry said.