Kolkata, Jan 1 (IANS): Coal India's subsidiary Northern Coalfields Ltd (NCL) on Tuesday said the miner's coal production grew by 11 per cent and its off-take increased by seven per cent during the first nine months of the current fiscal, surpassing its assigned targets in the two parameters.

During the April to December period of the current fiscal, the company produced 74.65 million tonnes of coal as against a target of 73.26 million tonnes while its despatched volume was at 75.84 million tonnes, overtaking the assigned target of 72.21 million tonnes.

The miner, which contributes about 15 per cent of coal behemoth's total annual production, had produced 67.45 million tonnes of coal in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The miner said it supplied 62.54 million tonnes of dry fossil fuel to the power plants till December of the current financial year, up by 7 per cent from 58.40 million tonnes supplied to the thermal power plants during the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

Notably, NCL has been entrusted with the responsibility of producing 100 million tonnes of coal in this fiscal and the off-take target of 100.5 million tonnes.

"Going by the sustained growth across the performance parameters, the company is likely to surpass the assigned targets this fiscal," an official added.