Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: Coal India’s production increased nearly 10-fold in five decades by 702 million tonnes (MTs) — from 79 MTs in its year of founding in 1975 to 781 MTs at the closure of FY 2025, an official statement said on November 2. Similarly, during the referred period, coal supplies were up by 685 MTs from 78 MTs to 763 MTs. Coal India Limited (CIL), a Maharatna Public Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Coal, is marking a momentous milestone — completing 50 years of its establishment.
Established on November 1, 1975, CIL was formed as the apex holding company of the nationalised coking coal mines (1971) and non-coking coal mines (1973). With a dedicated workforce of over 2.2 lakh employees, CIL remains one of the largest corporate employers in the country. Notably, production and off-take pace was fastest during the last decade with production raising from 494 MTs during FY 2014-15 to FY 781 MTs in 2024-25, which was a high trajectory jump of 287 MTs.
This is close to 41 per cent of the entire increase of 702 MTs that CIL achieved in five decades. The decadal growth in coal off-take also was high at 40%, up in volume terms by 274 MTs from 489 MTs in FY 2014-15 to 763 MTs in FY 2024-25. “For any company to be in the forefront of the country’s energy sector persistently for 50 years, accounting for 75 per cent of the nation’s entire coal output is a notable achievement” said a senior executive of CIL. This highlights CIL’s increasing commitment and the Coal Ministry’s impetus to take up the coal production to higher orbit. Apart from its core competency, CIL is stepping big into diversification initiatives like setting up solar power plants of 3000 MW by FY 2028 in the first phase, critical mineral acquisitions, coal gasification etc.
