Team News Riveting
State-run Coal India Limited (CIL) that had been clocking negative growth in production during this fiscal had neutralised it for the first time.
Country largest coal producing company recorded an output of 282.9 million tonnes (MTs) during April-October 2020, which is 2.5 MTs more as compared to previous year’s corresponding period.
With its production impeded by the COVID-19 slowdown during the first four months of the present fiscal, CIL started logging positive growth from August onward on a monthly basis. For the first time CIL posted a positive growth for the year at 0.9 per cent ending October.
“Though the progressive growth in output was nominal, importantly we could wipe off the negative trend and now look forward to consolidating the positive pattern for the rest of the fiscal” said a senior official of the company.
As the country’s core sector output contraction narrowed sharply to 0.8 per cent in September’20, growth in the coal sector was 21.2 per cent, the highest among all the eight core sector industries, compared to the same month last year. CIL’s contribution was sizable in this.
Besides coal, only two other core sectors clocked positive growth during September’20.
Eight industries of the country are categorized as core sectors, including coal. Together they comprise 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). Weightage of the coal sector in the eight core sectors’ index is 10.33 per cent.
CIL’s robust 31.6 per cent year-on-year production growth in September’20 at 40.5 MTs aided substantially in narrowing down the contraction as could be surmised by the numbers. Out of the country’s total coal production of 48.6 MTs for September, CIL’s production accounted for 83.3 per cent of the entire coal output.
Indicating demand revival for the dry fuel, Coal India Limited (CIL) posted a strong 25 per cent rise in coal off-take for October’20 at 50.5 MTs. This represents a volume increase of 10.1 MTs compared to 40.4 MTs that the company supplied in the same month a year ago. All the subsidiary companies of CIL recorded growth in supplies.
CIL increased its supplies to the power sector to 36.4 MTs in September’20 against 29.2 MTs in the same month a year ago posting 24.7% growth. Growth in electricity generation was 3.7 per cent during September in the core sector index.
