In view of rising production of the dry fuel, India plans to completely stop thermal coal imports in 2-3 years that would result in annual savings of Rs.40,000 crore, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said.

The Ministry of Coal (MoC) is taking various steps to resolve issues related to auctioned mines and allotted blocks, and bring them to production.

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.

India´s coal imports inched up by 1.7 per cent in February, the first rise in eight months, as told to Reuters by Coal Secretary Anil Swarup.

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.

Odisha Power Generation Corporation Ltd. (OPGC) has urged the Ministry of Coal (MoC) to provide bridge coal linkage of 16.9 million tonne (MT) every year for four years.

The government has generated a revenue of Rs.726 crore from the auction of 31 coal blocks.

According to Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, the budgetary announcement of doubling coal cess will not lead to hike in power tariffs since power distribution companies (discoms) will benefit from Ujjwal Discom Assurance Yojna (UDAY).

As per New Coal Distribution Policy (NCDP), 2007, Standing Linkage Committee (Long-Term) [SLC (LT)] is authorized to recommend the Letters of Assurance (LOAs) for supply of coal.