West Asia crisis: CIL taking adequate measures to ensure coal supply to all consumers

The government on Thursday, March 19, asserted that India’s domestic coal production is steadily matching consumer demands, with state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL) implementing robust measures to secure uninterrupted dry fuel for all sectors, amid escalating tensions in West Asia.

As a proactive step, CIL, which accounts for over 80% of domestic coal output, has planned 29 e-auctions in the current month, offering about 23.56 million tonnes (MT) of coal.

”Out of these 29 auctions, 5 auctions have already been conducted since March 12, 2026, wherein 73.1 lakh tonnes of coal were offered, and 31.96 lakh tonnes of coal have been booked, indicating adequacy of coal offered in the e-auctions,” the coal ministry said in a statement.
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In addition to this, CIL has also taken necessary action to ensure coal availability to the small, medium and other consumers through the State Nominated Agencies (SNAs) route and requested the State governments to provide the additional coal requirement, which can be met in full to avoid any energy shortages.

The coal offtake of the states through the SNAs is being constantly monitored by the coal behemoth to ensure that uninterrupted supplies are ensured.

Coal is continuing to ensure reliable baseload power to support core industries such as steel and cement that underpin the economic growth of the country, it said.

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”The coal production in the country continues at a pace matching with the prevailing demands of the consumer and building adequate stocks at the mine-end for maintaining adequate supplies to the consumers as per their requirements with the continued support of Railways,” the statement said.

The pithead coal stock at the mines of CIL, which was 106.78 MT as on April 1, 2025, has increased to about 125.54 MT as on March 18, 2026.

Further, there is around 5.75 MT of coal at the mines of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and another 15.75 MT of coal at the captive, commercial mines and about 12 MT in transit and about 5.49 MT in ports and goods shed sidings.

This coal stock is in addition to the coal already available at the power plants, which is around 53.41 MT, adequate for nearly 23 days at the present rate of consumption.

Coal India produced 781.056 million tonnes of coal in the last financial year. Shares of the company closed 0.18% lower at ₹454.40 on Thursday.