NEW DELHI, Mar 2: Coal India production edged up to 54.46 million tonnes in February 2018 compared to the same month last year but missed the target of 61.43 million tonnes.
Coal offtake also improved by 4 per cent to 49.97 million tonnes (MT) in the month under review but lagged the targeted volume of 52.14 MT, according to a filing by Coal India (CIL).
The PSU produced 56.6 MT coal in January while the output was 54.3 MT in February 2017. Coal offtake was 53.7 MT in January.
The production of state-run miner during the April-February period rose by 1.4 per cent to 495.09 million tonnes but was lower than the production target of 531.32 MT for the period.
Offtake rose by 7 per cent on yearly basis to 525.09 MT in the 11-month period of FY 2017-18 — lower than the target of 541 MT.
Coal India has been given a production target of 600 MT for FY 2017-18, an annual growth of 8.3 per cent over FY2017-18.
A recent Central Electricity Authority (CEA) report had flagged coal shortage by power plants with as many as 46 coal-fired plants reporting stocks of less than a week as on February 22. (PTI)