The power sector of the country seems to be full of contradictions - there are about 300 million people who do not have access to power, about a third of the population is not lucky enough to escape scheduled and unscheduled power outages, but about 25,000 MW of installed capacity is unable to find buyers, the reason is that most of the power distribution companies (Discoms) are unable to buy enough power to cater their customers´ needs and even if they are ready to do so, there are not enough transmission lines to transfer excess power from pockets of plenty to the needy geographies.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has cut prices of top grades of coal by up to 40 per cent on the back of more than adequate coal production as well as about 58 million tonne (MT) of stock pile.

Around Rs.1,159.96 crore has been paid by the subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL) for acquiring land for mining in different parts of the country.

The state-run Coal India Ltd. (CIL) is likely to miss its production target of 550 million tonne (MT) for the financial year 2015-´16 by 10-15 MT, due to slump in demand.

The state-owned Coal India Limited´s (CIL) hefty bank balance of nearly Rs.60,000 crore as carried in the company´s consolidated balance sheet has fascinated successive governments for long.

Around 22 mining projects of Coal India Ltd. (CIL) have received green clearance in 2015-16.

In his Budget speech for 2016-17, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the country has witnessed highest coal production growth in over two decades.

Coal India Limited (CIL) has halted production at several mines owing to surplus stocks at all thermal power plants in the country.

To ensure uninterrupted coal supply to small scale factories that cannot procure from Coal India Limited (CIL), the coal ministry is contemplating allocating 8-10 blocks to state-run undertakings, which can then sell coal to these factories.