NEW DELHI: Amid a crushing coal crunch, India’s largest electricity producer NTPC is looking at ramping up Black Diamond production by 86% to 26 million tonnes (mt) from its captive mines in the current financial year, even as the power ministry has raised the requirement of domestic coal for the sector by 10% to 742 millions tonnes.
The mining growth trajectory set by the country’s single-largest coal consumer is driven by a greater emphasis on captive miners in the power ministry’s fuel demand estimate. Captive miners have been given a target of producing 120 mt in the current financial year, which is 43% more than almost 84 mt of coal in 2021-22.
