COAL PRODUCTION

• The production of raw coal in the country during April-November 2018-19 was 433.896 Million Tonne (MT) compared to 394.910 MT during the corresponding period of previous year.
• The overall growth in Coal production during April- November, 2018 was 9.8%.

• Coal India Limited (CIL) Coal Production and Off-take (during April-November 2018)
• • Coal production and coal dispatch/off-take of Coal India Limited (CIL), the state sector coal mining company, during April-November 2018-19 was 358.322 MT and 392.091 MT respectively.
  • Production and dispatch growth of CIL was 8.8% and 6.6% respectively during April-November 2018-19.
  • Generally, it is observed that coal production slows down considerably between June–September every year.
  • The production has picked up from October onwards.

All India month wise progressive coal production

(in million tonnes)

Monitoring of coal supplies to Power Utilities

The stock positions of Power Houses having critical and super critical stock for the year 2015-16 to 2018-19 (till Nov) is as under:

In addition to the monitoring mechanism available at coal companies and CIL, coal supplies to Power Utility Sector is monitored regularly by an Inter-Ministerial sub-group comprising representatives of Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal and Ministry of Railways constituted by Infrastructure review Committee of Cabinet Secretariat. This Sub-Group takes various operational decisions for meeting any contingent situations relating to Power Sector including critical coal stock position for power plant.

Power Sector Linkage Policy – SHAKTI

CCEA on 17.05.2017 approved fading away of the existing LoA-FSA regime and introduced Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (Coal) Transparently in India (SHAKTI), 2017, which was issued by Ministry of Coal on 22.05.2017. The Policy provides for the following:

• SHAKTI policy has allowed continuation of the existing coal supply to the capacities of about 68,000 MW at the rate of 75% of Annual Contracted Quantity (ACQ). The coal supply may further be increased in future based on coal availability. Also, the policy has enabled about 19,000 MW capacities out of the 68,000 MW which have delayed in commissioning for signing of Fuel Supply Agreements (FSA) provided these plants are commissioned within 31.03.2022. The plants to whom LoAs were issued have been made eligible for signing of FSAs under para A (i) of SHAKTI Policy. As per Para A (i) of SHAKTI Policy dated 22.05.2017, FSA may be signed with the pending LoA holders after ensuring that the plants are commissioned, respective milestones met, all specified conditions of the LoA fulfilled within specified timeframe and where nothing adverse is detected against the LoA holders.

With these, the old regime of LoA-FSA came to finality and fade away:

Following are considered under new more transparent coal allocation policy for Power Sector, 2017-SHAKTI (Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala (coal) Transparently in India):

· CIL/ SCCL may grant coal linkages to State/Central Gencos/JVs at notified price on recommendations of Ministry of Power.

• Linkages to IPPs having PPA based on domestic coal but no linkage.
• Linkages to IPPs/ Power Producers without PPAs shall be on auction basis where methodology would be similar to that followed under linkage auction to non-regulated sector.
• Coal linkages may also be earmarked for fresh PPAs, by pre-declaring the availability of coal linkage with description, to the States. States may indicate these linkages to Discoms/ SDAs.
• Power requirement of group of States can also be aggregated and procurement of such aggregated power can be made by an agency designated by Ministry of Power or authorized by such States on the basis of tariff based bidding.
• Linkages shall be granted for full normative quantity to Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) incorporated by nominated agency for setting up Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) under Central Government initiative through tariff based competitive under the guidelines for determination of tariff, on the recommendation of MoP.
• Ministry of Coal in consultation with Ministry of Power may formulate a detailed methodology of a transparent bidding process for allocating coal linkages to IPPs, having PPAs based on imported coal, with full pass through of cost saving to consumers.

As of now, coal linkages have been granted under Para A (i), B (i) & B (ii) of the aforesaid Policy. During the period of January to November, 2018, 12 Fuel Supply Agreements have been signed by Coal India Limited under the SHAKTI Policy, 2017.

Details of coal linkages granted under various provisions of SHAKTI as of now are as under:

• Under paraA(i) of SHAKTI: Clearance has been given for signing of FSA for 6 power plants with a total capacity of 4730 MW.
• Para B(i) of SHAKTI:18 TPPs granted linkage for a total capacity of 21880 MW.
• Para B(ii) of SHAKTI: Linkage auction under para B(ii) of SHAKTI policy was conducted in Sep’17 whereby 27.18 MT of annual coal linkage was booked by ten provisional successful bidders for 9045 MW capacity. Fuel supply Agreement has been executed with seven of ten successful bidders, as of now.

Auction of Linkages of Non-Regulated Sector

Policy for Auction of Linkages to Non-Regulated Sector was issued on 15.02.2016. All allocations of Linkages/LoAs for non-regulated sector viz. Cement, Steel/Sponge Iron, Aluminium and others (excluding Fertilizer (urea) sector), including their CPPs, shall be auction based. Till 10^th October, 2018, 71.72 MTPA of coal quantity have been booked under the linkage auctions conducted by Coal India Limited in 4 tranches. The percentage gain over notified price of non-power is 17.90%. Fourth tranche of auction is underway from June, 2018 onwards. A total quantity of 26.54 MT has been booked by Sponge Iron, Cement & CPP sub sector in the fourth tranche of auction till 10^th October, 2018 and the average gain over notified price for the above 3 sub sectors have been 30.25%.

• Rationalization of Coal Linkage

An Inter-Ministerial Task Force (IMTF) was constituted in June, 2014 to undertake a comprehensive review of existing sources of coal with a view to optimize transportation cost and materialization under the given technical constraints. The report of the IMTF duly approved by the Competent Authority was circulated to the concerned. On the recommendation of the IMTF, three stage rationalization was undertaken. The linkage rationalization for State/Central PSUs was implemented initially, based on IMTF recommendation and carried forward by CIL based on coal availability and requests of PSU TPPs. Overall movement rationalization of 55.66 MT of coal has taken place with annual potential savings of Rs. 3359 Crore.

Recently, Ministry of Coal has issued the Policy for Linkage Rationalization for Independent Power Producers (IPPs) vide its letter dated 15.05.2018 which started with rationalization of linkages of State/ Central Gencos. As per this policy, CIL has rationalized for a quantity of 5.42 MT for State/Central Gencos with a potential savings of 292 Crores (approx., as estimated by the power plants) which is under the process of implementation.

In addition, an Inter Ministerial Task Force has also been constituted on 18.10.2018 to examine the possibility of further rationalization of Coal linkages, including swapping of imported coal being transported to hinterland with domestic coal transported near coastal areas. Four meetings of the IMTF has been held.

• Bridge Linkage

Policy for grant of 'Bridge Linkage' to specified end-use plants of Central and State Public Sector Undertakings (Both in Power as well as Non-Power sector) which have been allotted coal mines/ blocks was issued on 08.02.2016. Bridge Linkage shall act like a short term linkage to bridge the gap between requirement of coal of a specified end use plant of Central and State PSUs and the start of production from the linked allotted coal mine/block. So far, Bridge Linkages have been granted to 31 TPPs and 1 CPP. During the period between January, 2018 to 22^nd November, 2018, Bridge Linkages have been granted to 2 TPPs.

• Third Party Sampling

Guidelines on Third Party Sampling at the loading end – Standard Operationg Procedure were issued on 26.11.2015. CIMFR has also been permitted for undertaking of sampling and analysis of coal at unloading / receipt end by the Thermal Power Plants. The progress of the Third Party Sampling is being reviewed periodically by a Committee jointly chaired by Joint Secretary (Coal) and Joint Secretary (Thermal).

CIMFR has completed signing of tripartite agreement for a quantity of 548 million tonne on annual basis. Sampling for almost entire supply to power utilities under FSA / MoU has already been covered by CIMFR.

In addition, Third Party sampling has been extended to Non-Power consumers taking coal under different FSAs and e-auction on optional basis. IIT-ISM and QCI have been engaged for undertaking Third Party Sampling for Non-Power consumers and Power consumers taking coal under forward e-auction.

An APP named as UTTAM (Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal) has been launched in April, 2018 and all consumer/stakeholders as well as Coal Companies can access the declared grade, third party sample analysis results and referee analysis results through this APP.

Now, coal supply under all FSAs and e-auction for both power utilities and non-power consumers have been covered under Third Party Sampling. Consumers are now paying the coal value for the quality of coal supplied to them based on analyzed grade given by independent third party agencies.

• Disinvestment during FY 2018-19

• Coal India OFS: Disinvestment of 10% paid up equity capital in CIL was approved by the CCEA in November, 2015. Out of the above, during FY 2018-19, 3.19% shares were disinvested through Offer For Sale (OFS) mode.

• BHARAT 22 ETF: Consequent upon the CCEA's authorisation, the alternative mechanism has approved the creation of a new exchange traded fund namely Bharat 22 ETF. As per the composition of the basket, CIL & NLC will have weight of 3.3% & 0.3% respectively in the above Equity Traded Fund(ETF).

During FY 2018-19, 0.225% of CIL's Shares and 0.10 % of NLCIL Shares was divested through Bharat 22 ETF.

• NLCIL's Buyback: During current year i.e. 2018-19, buyback of 14,19,31,818 fully paid-up equity shares of Rs.10 each at a price of Rs.88 per equity share has already been approved by NLCIL's Board. Ministry of Coal also conveyed the approval of Government from promoter vide letter dated 09.10.2018 to support the proposed buy back of shares by NLCIL.

• CPSE ETF: Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 2^nd May 2013 has approved the setting up of CPSE-ETF comprising equity shares of listed CPSEs.

Accordingly, shares of CIL was disinvested by way of placement in CPSE-ETF Scheme in three installments of 0.35% in March 2014, 0.67% in January 2017 & 0.25 % in March 2017.

Further, DIPAM vide OM dated 06.11.2018 informed about Further Fund Offer of CPSE ETF wherein the composition of basket has been revised. Earlier only Coal India Limited was the part of basket but now NLCIL has also been included in the basket

Shares for the above FFO3 of CPSE ETF has already been transferred to DIPAM. 2.21% & 1.62% shareholding of GoI in CIL & NLCIL, are disvested through FFO3 CPSE ETF. Balance shares are yet to be received from DIPAM. 

• Allocation of Coal Blocks/Mines under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015

· Under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and Rules made there under, so far 85 coal mines have been successfully allocated (originally 92 coal mines were allocated, later on Coal Mine Development and Production Agreement were terminated in respect of 7 coal mines). Of these 85 coal mines, 25 have been allocated through Electronic Auction (24 to private companies and 1 to a Government Company) and 60 have been allocated to Government Companies through Allotment. Out of these 85 coal mines, 48 coal mines have been allocated to the regulated sector i.e. power, 21 coal mines to the non-regulated sector (NRS) i.e. iron & steel, cement and captive power as well as 16 coal mines for sale of coal. Allotment/ Vesting Orders have been issued for 77 coal mines. During the year 2018, 3 coal mines have been allotted to Coal India Ltd. These are Bijahan, East of Damogoria and Utkal – A. The auction process of 18 Coal mines and allotment process of 8 coal mines have been initiated.

· The coal mines allocated under the said Act are to be developed as per the terms and conditions as well as milestones listed in Schedule-E of Coal Mine Development and Production Agreement (CMDPA)/ Allotment Agreement entered by the Successful Bidders / Allottees with the Nominated Authority. Any violation of the stipulated terms and conditions is to attract action as appropriate under provisions of the agreement. During the year 2018 an amount of Rs. 428 Crore  have been recovered as appropriated amount from Performance Security as Bank Guarantee.

• It may be noted that a High Power Expert Committee (HPEC) was constituted to examine efficacy and challenges in the current bidding system and suggest changes for conducting auction of coal mines in future which submitted its report on 12.07.2018. Upon examination and detailed deliberations on the said report of HPEC and recommendations of the Committee of Secretaries thereon, vide O.M. dated 12.10.2018, directions containing guidelines for future allocation of Coal Mines has been issued to Nominated Authority for taking further necessary action accordingly.

• Operationalization of allocated Coal Blocks/Mines under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015
• During the year 2018, 6 Coal Mines have become operational:

1. Aradhagram
2. Manoharpur
3. Gare Palma IV/8
4. Talaipalli
5. Dulanga
6. Pachwara North

• In order to monitor the development of Coal mines, regular meeting by Secretary (Coal) and Nominated Authority are being held. .During the year 2018, Secretary (Coal) has held 7 meetings on 11/01/2018, 27/02/2018, 19/04/2018, 23/07/2018, 01/08/2018, 05/09/2018 &14/11/2018. Meeting of Nominated Authority was conducted on 20/09/2018 and 05/11/2018.
• Auctioned coal mines- Out of the 15 operational (Schedule II) coal mines auctioned under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, mining operations have commenced/mine opening permission granted in 12 coal mines. The remaining 3 Schedule II coal mines are awaiting various clearances for operationalization. In respect of these 3 non-operational Schedule II coal mines, action has been/is being taken as per the provisions of Coal Mine Development and Production Agreement.
• Further, out of the 10 Schedule III coal mines, 1 coal mine was granted Mining Opening Permission. Remaining Schedule III coal mine are scheduled to be operational from June 2018 onwards as they were not operational at the time of the allocation.
• Allotted coal mines- Out of the 18 operational (Schedule II) coal mines allotted to Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs)/GENCOS, 4 coal mines are operational as on date. Out of 42 Schedule III & I coal mines (24 Schedule III+ 18 Schedule I) 06 coal mines have been granted Mining Opening Permission. Schedule III & I coal mines are scheduled to be operational from June 2018 onwards as they were not operational at the time of the allocation.

• Status of Coal  Production:

A total of 56.13 MT coal has already been produced till October 2018 from the operational coal mines after allocation under the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act’ 2015.

• Revenue Generated:

A total revenue of Rs. 6096.50/- Crores (excluding Royalty, taxes, cess, etc.) comprising of the upfront payments and monthly payments upto November 2018 , has already been generated from the coal mines on account of auction/allotment proceeds from allocation of said mines.

• Coal Block Allocation under MMDR Act, 1957
• • Identification of 137 additional Non-CIL coal blocks out of which 89 coal blocks are available for allocation under MMDR Act, 1957.
  • Deocha Pachami Coal Block has been allocated under MMDR Act, 1957 to the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) on 06.06.2018.
  • 6 Coal Blocks have been decided to allocate under MMDR Act, 1957 to Coal India Ltd./its Subsidiaries.
  •  Agreement on one Lignite Block (Bharkandam) has been signed on 30.01.2018.
• Exploration of Coal

CMPDIL drilling target for FY 2018-19 under the sub scheme of Promotion (Regional) Exploration is 2,22,000 Meters which is 47,000 Meters more than previous year drilling. And under the sub scheme of Detailed Drilling in Non-CIL blocks is 512500 Meters which is 13000 Meter more than previous year drilling.

• Safety Audit

Mine Rescue Team of WCL, a subsidiary of CIL achieved "Most Active Team" Award in the International Mines Rescue Competition (IMRC) 2018 held at Yekaterinburg, Russia. An in-house Rock Testing Laboratory established in Nagpur, WCL for determination of Rock Mass Rating (RMR) of strata was accredited with NABL certificate.

•  Grading of Quality of Coal

During 2017-18, random sampling (3 sets) by CCO teams for 333 seams/seam fractions & sidings of CIL Subsidiaries and SCCL were carried out under the Colliery Control Rules, 2004 and the Coal Mines (Conservation and Development) Rules, 2011 for approving grades for FY 2018-19. No. of mines involved were 177, in which re-gradation was done for 124 mines which resulted in down gradation of 78 mines and up gradation of 46 mines.

Research and Development

The research & Development (R&D) activity is administered through an Apex Body namely, Standing Scientific Research Committee (SSRC) with Secretary (Coal as its Chairman.

As on 01.04.2018, there were Seventeen (17) on-going research projects, out of which four (4) projects have been completed till date.

Ongoing research projects cover the following Areas:

• Improvement in production, productivity and safety in coal mines,
• Coal beneficiation
• Protection of environment and ecology.
• Clean coal technology

Total approved outlay of the 17 on-going research projects are amounting to Rs. 104.57 Crore.

Status of ongoing projects

• There are 117 ongoing mining projects costing Rs 20 crore and above under implementation in CIL. Out of these 117 projects, 63 projects (54%) are on schedule and 54 projects (46%) are delayed.  In SCCL, there are 20 Mining projects (14 opencast and 6 underground) costing Rs. 20 Crore and above under various stages of implementation in SCCL with sanctioned capital cost of Rs. 6865.72 Crore, of which, 14 Projects are on schedule (as per FR/RCE), 6 Projects are delayed.

• The main reasons for delay are Forestry Clearances, land acquisition and related R&R problems, adverse geo-mining conditions etc. Coal companies are regularly monitoring implementation of the project at various levels and interacting with concerned authorities at State and Central levels to resolve the issues coming in the way of projects implementation.

New Projects

• During the period 2017-18, CIL has approved five opencast projects having an annual total capacity of 24.85 MTY and sanctioned capital of Rs 4264.90 Crore.

Rail infrastructure for evacuation of coal

• In order to address the issue of evacuation of coal from three potential coalfields viz. North Karanpura in Jharkhand, lb-valley in Odisha and Mand-Raigarh in Chhattisgarh, Government of India has taken up implementation of 3 railway projects namely Tori-Shivpur-Katotia in North Karanpura, Jharkhand; Jharsuguda-Barpalli-Sardega in lb-valley, Odisha and Bhupdeopur-Korichapar-Dharamjaigarh in Chhattisgarh.
• The construction of the Tori-Shivpur new BG Rail line of 44.37 km, with a revised capital outlay of Rs. 2399 Crore has been completed in the month of September 2018 (single line). The doubling of the rail line, OHE and signaling works are in progress. The works are being executed by East Central Railway. The construction of the Shivpur-Kathotia section of 49.085 km length, with a revised capital outlay of Rs. 1799.64 Crore has been taken up by a Rail JV company “Jharkhand Central Railway limited” (JCRL) formed with CCL (64%), IRCON (26%) and Govt. of Jharkhand (10%). The DPR and Inflated Mileage have been communicated by EC Railway and Railway Board on 27-02-2018 and 13-06-2018 respectively. Signing of Concession Agreement with EC Railway and Financial Closure of JCRL is under progress. Centre line pegging has been completed; physical work is expected to start by Jan. 2019 after financial closure and forest clearance
• The construction of the Jharsuguda-Barpali-Sardega new BG Rail line of 52.41 km, with a revised capital outlay of Rs. 1044 Crore has been completed in the month of March 2018. The single line was commissioned on 08.03.2018 and coal loading started from 05.04.2018. The work was executed by South East Railway.
• For development of Bhupdeopur-Korichapar-Dharamjaigarh Rail infrastructure two Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs) were formed to develop the East and West coal corridors, namely Chhattisgarh East Railway Limited (CERL) & Chhattisgarh East-West Railway Limited (CEWRL) with equity participation of SECL (64%), lRCON (26%) and Govt. of Chhattisgarh (10%).

• Land acquired under CBA(A&D) Act, 1957:

Land acquired under Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957 [CBA (A&D) Act, 1957] during the period from 01.04.2018 till date are as under:

International Co-operation

An MOU was signed between Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDI) and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia on 16.11.2018.

A key focus of this MOU will be on fostering opportunities for innovative collaboration among scientific leaders and the focus areas would be:

Encourage substantial research cooperation in some or all of the fields of:

• 2D/3D Seismic Data Analysis for Mapping Coal Seam Including Thin Seams
• Hydro-Geological Modelling
• Thick Seam Mining Using Long wall Technology Top Coal Caving
• High Productive Underground Mining Technology
• Coal Mine Methane
• Ventilation Air Methane Mitigation Technologies
• Drill Hole Geophysical Logging and Data Analysis for Geotechnical Characterisation
• Mine Gas Capture and Utilisation
• Strata Control in Underground Coal Mines
• Slope Stability in Opencast Mines and Overburden Dumps Stability
• Remediation of Dust from Opencast Mines
• Coal Cleaning and Preparation (Development of Cost-Effective and High Efficiency Technologies)
• Coal Blending for Combustion and Gasification Applications
• Elemental Study (Ash Analysis) for Coal Characterisation
• Study of Trace Elements and Rare Earth in Coal and Non-Coal Strata
• Mine Reclamation and Rehabilitation Using Remote Sensing
• Intelligent Mining, Sensing, and Automation
• Data Driven Mining Decisions
• Online Coal Quality Monitoring and Management     

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SVS/MKV/AP/ENS