As per Mid Term Appraisal undertaken by the Planning Commission the overall shortage of coal by the year 2011-12 may be of the order of 81.03 million tonnes. The overall gap between demand and supply at the end of 2016-17 as projected by Working Group on Coal and Lignite for formulation of 11th Five Year Plan may be revised upward to 86.50 million tonnes.
As per Annual Plan 2009-10 of Ministry of Coal, Mid Term Appraisal by Planning Commission & Working Group Report, the total coal availability from CIL sources and projected import for the year 2009-10, 2011-12 & 2016-17 are given below
| Item/Year | 2009-10 | 2011-12 | 2016-17 |
| Total coal availability from CIL Sources | 435.00 | 486.50 | 647.50 |
| Total import (Coking + non-coking) | 70.00 | 81.03 | 86.50 |
The following steps have been initiated to augment the supply of coal:-
1. CIL intends to acquire coal resources and develop coal projects in the first phase in Mozambique, Australia, Indonesia, South Africa and USA. The coal produced from these properties shall be imported to India to meet the coal demand.
2. MoC has also allotted 208 coal blocks to private/public entrepreneurs for development and operation of mining for production of coal.
