Coal India chairman is trying to ensure the country gets power at a 'just' price

Shares of Coal India Ltd jumped 2.1 percent on Tuesday after the miner said the company had not raised prices of the dry fuel in the past four years to ensure its supply at competitive prices to consumers compared to the international market.

Coal India Ltd (CIL) shares were trading 1.2 percent up at Rs 233.3 on BSE at the time of writing.

While addressing shareholders at CIL's 48th AGM, chairman Pramod Agrawal said the company was committed to increasing its production and supplies to the mandated levels to ensure that the country gets power at a "just" price.

Coal India meets 80 percent of the country's dry fuel requirement. Agrawal had said earlier that the company was discussing with all "stakeholders" about revising coal prices in the wake of a jump in operational cost.

At the AGM, Agrawal said that coal would continue to fuel India's electricity generation based on the current usage pattern. "Of the country's electricity generation of 1,490.277 billion units in FY22, coal-based generation accounted for 69.9 percent or 1,041.459 billion units. This represents a growth of 9.5 percent over the preceding year," he said.

Coal India produced 622.63 million tonnes of coal in FY22 — the highest since the company came into being. Production represented an increase of 26.41 million tonnes — a 4.4 per cent growth over last year.

Coal India has devised a transformational plan for operationalising 14 mines through engagement of Mine Developer cum Operators, having proposed a capacity of 165.58 million tonnes per annum which would contribute to sizeable production in the coming years, he said.

Agrawal also gave some other updates on the miner's achievements and steps on connectivity, modernisation, automation and Information Technology interventions.

(With PTI inputs)