New Delhi, Sep 11 (IANS): India’s captive mines produced 68.98 million tonnes (MT) of coal up to September 10 in the current financial year, up from 65.78 MT in the corresponding period of FY 2025-26, which represents a year-on-year growth of 5 per cent, or an additional 3.2 MT, and this also comes on a base that was itself 10.12 per cent higher than the previous year, the Coal Ministry said on Friday.
The gain has been recorded in the first five months of the current financial year, which include the monsoon, when mining and evacuation are at their most difficult, a ministry statement said.
Dispatch from captive mines has also been better than the previous year. Captive mines dispatched 75.68 MT against 71.43 MT last year, a growth of 5.94 per cent and an increase of 4.25 MT.
Provisional figures indicate the pace is picking up further as the monsoon begins to recede. In the ten days between September 1 and September 10, captive mines produced 4.12 MT and dispatched 4.21 MT.
New capacity is being added steadily to this base. Nine captive and commercial mines are expected to commence production during FY 2026-27, with a combined peak rated capacity of 20.67 MT. Three of these, with a peak capacity of 7.51 MT, have already started production during the current year. The remaining six are expected to commence production soon during the year, according to the statement.
On this footing, production from captive mines is expected to cross 190 MT in FY 2026-27. Together with commercial mines, the two segments are expected to exceed 228 MT during the current financial year, the statement said.
Captive mines have been a mainstay of coal production, and their output has grown steadily, with annual production recording a robust 10.1 per cent rise from 167.44 million tonnes (MT) in FY 2024-25 to 184 MT in FY 2025-26.
Along with commercial mines, which produced around 26 MT, the captive and commercial segment together accounted for 210 MT in FY 2025-26 against 190.95 MT the previous year.
Captive and commercial mines account for about 21 per cent of total domestic coal production, which stood at 1,039 MT in FY 2025-26 and has remained above one billion tonnes for the second year running. This performance has carried into the current financial year, the statement added.
