New Delhi: All India coal production has increased from 565.77 MT in 2013-14to 639.23 MT in 2015-16. On account of increased production by Coal India Ltd. (CIL) in 2015-16, coal imports have fallen from217.78 MTs in 2014-15 to 199.88 MTs in 2015-16. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.
Shri Goyal informed the House that a roadmap has been prepared by CIL to substantially enhance production of coal by 2019-20. This includes capacity addition from new projects, use of mass production technologies and identification of existing on-going projects with growth potential. As a result, all India coal production has increased to the values given above.
The focus of the Government is on increasing the domestic production which includes efforts to expedite Environment clearances & Forest clearances expeditiously, pursuing with State Government for assistance in land acquisition and coordinated effort with Railways for movement of coal, the Minister added.
In a reply to another question , the Minister informed that as per the current import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual prices on payment of applicable duty. The quantity and value of imported coal during the last five years is given below.
| Year | Quantity in MT. | Value in million Rs. |
| 2011–12 | 102.85 | 788376 |
| 2012–13 | 145.79 | 868455 |
| 2013–14 | 166.86 | 923292 |
| 2014–15 | 217.78 | 1045066 |
| 2015–16 | 199.88 | 845035 |
