“By the end of FY23 (March 2023), a total of 48 captive and commercial mines will be in operation, with 11 new mines expected to come on stream. Five of these are located in Jharkhand and will be dedicated to power production by companies such as National Thermal Power Corp (NTPC), Damodar Valley Corporation, and the Punjab Electricity Board, and two to steel production by JSW Steel and Araanya,” the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its latest report.

For the current fiscal year, captive and commercial mines are expected to raise their production considerably to about 140 million tonnes (mt). In FY22, captive mines increased their production by around 30% y-o-y to a total of about 90 mt, it added.

Commercial mining is the government’s third strategic pillar to boost India’s domestic coal production, the IEA pointed out.

In November 2022, the Coal Ministry launched the 6th round of commercial mine auctions, including 141 coal mines, of which 71 are new mines, 62 are ones not awarded in previous auctions and eight are ones for which single bids were received in the fifth auction. This is the largest coal mine auction so far.