Coal India on Monday announced an 11.9 per cent drop in production and an 11.8 per cent drop in offtake in August compared with the same month in 2023 as rain affected production.

Total coal production during the month was 46.1 million tonnes (MT) compared with 52.3 MT in August 2023. Coal offtake during the month was 52.1 MT compared with 59.1 in August 2023, according to stock exchange disclosure.

Among the seven subsidiaries of Coal India, South Eastern Coalfields (SECL), the second largest coal producing subsidiary after Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL), saw the highest year-on-year decline in production and offtake of 28.1 per cent and 27.2 per cent, respectively. Industry sources attributed the fall to heavy rainfall in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which disrupted operations leading to a drop in production.

In the first five months of the fiscal, Coal India’s production was at 290.4 mt, up 3.2 per cent over the corresponding period previous year. Offtake during this period was 310 mt, up 1.4 per cent year-on-year.

Coal India has seen a steady growth of more than 7 per cent in production in the first three months, but the growth rate has moderated to 2.5 per cent in July, before a drop in August.

For 2024-25, the production target is estimated at 838 mt. This means that Coal India would have to produce 547.6 MT in the remaining seven months of the fiscal at an average of over 78 mt, which industry sources said could pose a challenge to the public sector miner.

However, Coal India expects to ramp up production in the third and fourth quarters of the financial year and aims to reach close to the production target.

The Coal India scrip at ₹520.70 was down 0.82 per cent over the previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.