'CIL confident of retaining leadership position'

Notwithstanding the renewables blitzkrieg and compulsive green campaigns, coal’s prospect remains bright and secure in India’s growing energy matrix. Likewise, Coal India Ltd being the largest producer of the dry fuel also finds little threat from the potential competition from the private players in the coal vertical. Instead, the near-monopoly state-owned PSU feels that the emergence of other players will help achieve the common goal of reducing imports, says Anil Kumar Jha, chairman-cum-managing director, CIL, in an exclusive interview to Arindam Bandyopadhyay. He also lays stress on the uniqueness of CIL saying the organisation has made contributions to the economy that go beyond the numbers. Excerpts:

- Arindam Bandyopadhyay

The global energy market is sending the wrong signals for the fossil fuels. There is hardly any new thermal power capacity coming up outside India and China, while many such projects are being shelved world over. At such a juncture, what prospects do you see, as the head of the world’s largest coal mining company, for the dry fuel in the medium-to-long term?

Presently, the Indian energy situation is quite different from the global energy market. Coal still remains the dominant energy source in the country meeting around 56 percent of its primary commercial energy requirements and cannot be expunged from India’s energy basket at this juncture. Notwithstanding the hope that renewables would be displacing fossil fuels rapidly, I believe, coal will continue to dominate India’s thermal power generation for two more decades at the least, i.e. in short-to-medium term.

Coal India Limited spearheads the country’s coal output producing over 82 percent of (India’s) total production. Coal fueled approximately three-fourth of the country’s electricity generation in 2018-19, apart from being a vital input for other core industries.

Even in the long term, various estimates indicate that coal would continue to fuel more than 50 percent of the country’s energy needs in 2040. At some point of time in future, renewables may take over coal’s role, but till such time the prospect of coal is sound, secure and inextricably linked to India’s energy growth.

What were your major focus areas when you took over as the chairman of Coal India Ltd? Could you share with us some of those aspirations which have been fulfilled much to your satisfaction?