Kolkata, April 3 (IANS): State owned Maharatna company Coal India Ltd's (CIL) production fell short of its target by three percent for the 2014-15 fiscal as total output was logged at 494.23 million tonnes.

The world's largest coal producer, in a regulatory filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange, said although coal production from CIL grew by 6.9 with its eight subsidiaries registering 8.45 percent average annual growth, five of its subsidiaries as well CIL itself failed to meet the production targets.

CIL had set a target of 507 million tonnes (MT) coal extraction for the period April 2014-March 2015.

Compared to the targeted production, the actual mining volume from its largest subsidiary, South Eastern Coalfields Ltd., fell short by 2.72 MT while the second largest subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. could achieve 96 percent of the target.

The coal offtake from CIL as well as seven of its subsidiaries also fell short of target. The actual supply of coal to the consumers was pegged at 489.34 MT, short by six percent of the targeted 520 MT.

The central government has set for CIL a mining target of at least one billion MT of coal by 2020 with an aim to cut down on imports of the black mineral.

CILs chairman and managing director S. Bhattacharya, who took charge of the company's affairs in December last year, had previously said the coal production target set by the government was a big challenge.

The company's output for the month of March 2015 stood at 57.27 MT against a target of 56.87 MT. The target for coal offtake, however, fell short by five percent for the month.