Kolkata, Oct 3 (IANS): Coal India on Tuesday reported that its half-yearly production during the April-September period for the current fiscal grew marginally by 0.8 per cent to 231.87 million tonnes (mt) as compared to about 230.06 mt produced in the year-ago period.

According to the miner's provisional data, it produced 38.77 mt in September only, exceeding the production target of 38.32 mt for the month. 

However, it missed the half-yearly production target of 243.30 mt by five per cent.

The miner reported that its off-take grew by 8 per cent in the April-September period to 269.02 mt as against the off-take of about 249.11 mt in the corresponding period last year.

However, the company achieved 96 per cent of its off-take target of 279.66 mt for the half yearly period of the current fiscal.

In September only, its off-take was at 43.58 mt, exceeding the target of 42.34 mt.

The miner's two subsidiaries South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) and Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL) contributed the majority of its September production by generating 10.13 mt and 9.74 mt of coal, respectively.

The off-take from SECL during the last month was at 10.86 mt while MCL achieved 10.28 mt of sales.

The miner envisaged production of 908.10 million tonnes in 2019-20 with a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 12.98 per cent, with respect to 2014-15.

The miner's interim Chairman Gopal Singh, during its Annual General Meeting last month, had emphasised on quick and swift exploitation of the domestic fossil fuel reserves in order to meet future demand and reduce imports.

According to him, the large planned new coal-based thermal capacity is likely to put pressure on coal resources. 

Coal-based power generation capacity of 125 gigawatt in 2012 is likely to go up to more than 330-441 GW by 2040 (192 GW in FY 2017).

He said the demand for these plants is likely to be first met by domestic coal, which will require quick exploitation of internal reserves.

Singh also said that coal production increased in the last three years substantially, resulting in reduction in imports and foreign exchange savings of Rs 25,900 crore.

"Import dependence in oil and gas is understandable given the poor reserves we have but import dependence on coal, particularly non-coking coal, is something that can be addressed by swift exploitation of domestic coal reserves," he added.

According to him, imports contributed 25 per cent of coal supply in 2015-16 and 23 per cent in 2016-17.