Coal India is likely to miss its revised production target of 440 million tonnes and may achieve 430 million tonnes in 2011-12, with the state run miner failing to make up for slippages in the first half of 2011-12.

A top official in the coal ministry said that "It seems difficult that Coal India will achieve the production target. The company has still not been able to completely make up the loss that happened to the company in the first six months of the current fiscal.”

The official added that "Of the loss of 20 million tonnes the company has been able to make up just 12 million tonnes.”

In November last year CIL had lowered its production target for the ongoing financial year to 440 million tonnes from the estimate of 452 million tonnes in its annual plan.

The company had cited various reasons like heavy rainfall, strikes and delays in the grant of forestry and environmental clearances to coal projects for the downward revision in the production target.

Earlier, CIL had asked the government to scale down its production target for the 2011-12 financial year to 448 million tonnes, fearing it will not be able to make up for the slippage in output in the first half of the fiscal.

The company had missed its April-September target by about 20 million tonnes, recording an output of 176 million tonnes against the target of 196 million tonnes, which it has blamed on inclement weather, including heavy rains in August-September that affected production in almost all its collieries.

CIL had lowered its production target to 440.20 million tonnes from 460.50 million tonnes the last fiscal as well. However, CIL, which accounts for 80% of domestic coal production in the country, missed its revised production target last fiscal too, recording an output of just 431 million tonnes.

(Sourced from ZEE News)