India’s coal story is something that we at Metal Miner have tracked over the years. It’s no secret that of late, the world’s largest coal producer, Coal India Limited (CIL), has been facing some measure of criticism for not being able to meet certain targets.
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Now comes a document drawn up by the monolith itself which says CIL was “trailing global peers” in operating performance and technology adoption, while taxes & freight constitute 25% and 34%, respectively, of the cost consumers pay, undermining the monopoly’s competitiveness.
The document, titled “Vision 2030,” is quick to add that the cost structure of the Indian coal sector is still favorable and that cost of production is a concern for only about 10% of the output, according to the Economic Times.
CIL has pointed out that for coal transported over a distance up to 100 km, it received only 56% of the costs paid by consumers for procuring dry fuel. Taxes, duties and levies were about 34%, followed by freight at 10%. For transporting coal up to 500 km, Coal India received 41% of the total payments made by consumers while taxes, duties and levies constituted 25%, followed by railways at 34%.
CIL feels that although it produces coal at competitive rates, its own operating process was letting it down.
The report says there is a “significant gap” in productivity norms of similar class of equipment in mines in India and those around the world. For instance, similar class of shovels in international mines is operated 40-50% more hours annually than at CIL.
Coming at a time when the state-run miner reported a 4.21% increase in its consolidated net profit for the quarter ending December 2017, beating street expectations, “Vision 2030” seems like a wonderfully self-deprecating piece of writing and self-actualization.
Production during the quarter stood at 152.04 MT, up from 147.73 MT in the same period the previous year. The one thing that seems to have worked in its favor was earnings from e-auctions, although fuel supply agreement (FSA) realizations were a drag.
This is all very fine, but the vexed problem of not enough coal reaching many of India’s power plants remains.
An assurance by Indian Coal and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal that the thermal power plants’ demand for coal will be met by adequate supplies in the next financial year is supposed to suffice for now. The Power Ministry has demanded 615 MT of coal and 288 rakes for thermal power plants in the next financial year. As of February 11, there were 52 thermal units that had less than seven days of coal stocks, according to data from the Central Electricity Authority.
The minister’s optimism stems from the fact that they would receive speedier environmental clearances for expanding coal mines in India. The Union Government is said to be tackling low coal stocks in over 50 power plants in the country.
To be fair to CIL, the recent emergence of renewable energy as a viable key substitute, and the promises made under the Paris Agreement have eaten into its revenue. Imported coal as a viable substitute is another challenge the company faces. Incidentally, one of the stipulated aims of CIL’s Vision 2030 was to assess the future demand scenario for the coal sector in India up to 2030.
While talking about emergence of renewable energy as a key substitute for coal, the study specifically delves into the massive growth of the Indian solar sector in last two years.
The total capacity addition in solar over the last two years has been more than 8 GW, an increase of approximately 200% in the installed capacity. “Efficient use of materials, improved manufacturing process, improvement in cell efficiency, and decrease in prices of solar inverters and other ancillary parts in the electrical system are expected to continue driving the competitiveness of solar,” the study noted.
The study estimates that the regulatory framework for access and extraction of coal will continue getting stricter, leading to increases in the cost of compliance. In 2015, India migrated to auction as a mechanism for allocation of coal resources for extraction.
About 50% of CIL’s total production comes from 15 opencast mines with a total production of 279 MTPA (million tons per annum). Remaining 452 CIL mines produce only 274 MTPA, or approximately 0.60 MTPA per mine.
India’s coal sector is regulated at several levels with the central government, provincial governments and various local agencies involved in supervising the industry.
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Much of what CIL said in its report is true. Power utilities in India are said to be already scouting abroad for coal mines, with some having met with success.
In fact, on a recent visit, Poland’s Deputy Minister Marek Magierowski said his country’s expertise in mining, especially in coal, could help boost collaboration with India. Magierowski, who was in India for the Bangla Business Conference and the Raisina Dialogue, spoke about bilateral relations, Europe’s Russia problem and Poland’s Europe problem. The Minister also pointed out that for both nations, coal would remain important to their energy needs “despite the problems posed by regulations that have to comply with climate change.”
