Coal imports not needed from next fiscal: Pralhad Joshi

India will not need to import thermal coal from the next financial year owing to ample domestic availability, coal and mines minister Pralhad Joshi said on Wednesday.

“There is no shortage of coal in the country and there will be no need to import thermal coal from fiscal 2024-25,” Joshi told ET on the sidelines of a press conference to mark major achievements of his ministries.

The minister also said that India aims to auction 500 mineral blocks by 2025-26. “We have made changes to the mining regime to encourage more auctions,” he said.

According to Joshi, India will close the current financial year with 880 million metric tonnes of coal production, 14% higher than the last fiscal.

India is the second largest importer of the fuel despite having the fourth largest coal reserves in the world, according to official estimates. Though coal imports saw a decline in 2020-21 and 2021-22, a fifth of the country’s annual coal requirement is being met through imported fuel.

Joshi said there will be a major capacity expansion along with commercial coal mining over the next two years. The coal ministry is also in the process of taking approval from the cabinet for a ₹6,000-crore viability gap funding plan for coal gasification projects.Sector watchers say while technology for gasification is tested and widely available, it is not commercially viable at present. This is why the government is trying to encourage the private sector as well as public sector to set up new gasification plants to produce a large number of chemical products.”We are also supporting a pilot project of small scale to demonstrate financial and technological aspects,” said M Nagaraju, additional secretary, coal ministry.

“We are ready for another peak power demand. Currently we have 116 million metric tonnes of coal with the public sector undertakings and with the thermal power plants, which is 29% higher than last year,” Joshi said.