Moving coal will decide India's energy security, say experts at 18th India Coal Summit

2026-10-09 06:26:33 Events / Trade Shows

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New Delhi, October 8, 2026: India's coal sector has largely cleared the production hurdle and now faces a harder test in moving, cleaning and finding new uses for the coal it mines, speakers said at the 18th India Coal Summit, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at Hotel Le Méridien, New Delhi. The summit brought together policy experts, power and steel producers and the Geological Survey of India.

India produced 1,039 million tonnes (MT) of coal in FY26, the second consecutive year above one billion tonnes, according to the Ministry of Coal. Speakers said the next gains will depend on logistics, coal quality, coking coal and new technologies such as gasification.

Mr. Somes Bandyopadhyay, CEO, NVVN Ltd and Former MD, GSECL, said, "Whatever renewable capacity we add, coal will have to stay with us for a few more decades. But even our economically mineable reserves are finite, and large-scale gasification will draw them down faster. Policies are being announced, but on the ground, land acquisition, rehabilitation and clearances are keeping commercial mines from coming up. Single window clearance and ease of doing business have to move from paper to practice."

Mr. Bandyopadhyay pointed to a mismatch in the power system, with curtailment during solar hours and shortages during evening peaks, worsened this year by weak hydro and wind generation. He said fuel supply agreements with coal suppliers remain one-sided on quality and quantity. Power producers also face penalties on fly ash utilisation while clearances for filling mine voids with ash move slowly through multiple agencies. He called for conveyor-based silo loading at mines, since much of the evacuation infrastructure at older mines is in poor condition.

Dr. Pankaj Kumar Satija, Chairperson, ICC National Expert Committee on Minerals & Metals, said, "Coal has helped insulate India from oil shocks since the 1970s, and it is doing so again today. We have crossed one billion tonnes for two consecutive years, and commercial and captive mines alone produced 210 million tonnes last year. The next challenge is coking coal. Our blast furnaces produced 96 million tonnes of hot metal in FY26, which needed 75 million tonnes of coking coal, and around 66 million tonnes of that was imported. With the draft National Steel Policy envisaging 600 million tonnes of steel capacity and coking coal demand of about 214 million tonnes by 2047, we should start treating metallurgical coal as one category."

Dr. Satija said around 40 MT of non-coking coal of grade G6 and above is suited for pulverised coal injection (PCI) in steelmaking. He added that two mines have already had non-coking coal reclassified as coking coal based on its coking properties. He also said the Skill Councils for the mining sector, green jobs and electronics should work together so that workers who depend directly or indirectly on coal can find suitable jobs as the transition progresses.

Mr. Amit Prakash, Head Regulatory Affairs, Mining & Steel, Tata Steel, said, "The challenge ahead is not producing more coal, it is moving it. Most of our coal is mined in the east while consumers are spread across the country, and the rail lines are already stretched. Australia's Hunter Valley moves about 90 percent of its coal by rail, with train loading in under two hours. If India is to move 1.5 billion tonnes, we need rapid loading systems, higher axle loads and a 21-day coal stock at consuming plants to avoid recurring shortages."

Mr. Prakash said Indian rakes typically carry 55 to 58 wagons, against heavy-haul trains of more than 130 wagons in the US. Axle loads in India range around 22 to 25 tonnes, compared with 30 to 35 tonnes in Australia. He proposed washing coal at pitheads so that ash is not transported across the country. He also called for better use of waterways, a joint master plan across the Ministries of Coal, Railways, Power and Steel, and the use of AI and IoT to cut idling across the supply chain.
Dr. Frincy R M, Director (G), Geological Survey of India, said, "Coal does not have to be only a fuel. Coal seams can store carbon dioxide while releasing the coal bed methane trapped in them, and deep lignite that cannot be mined economically can be gasified underground. Fly ash concentrates rare earth elements to five to seven times their level in coal. A pilot with CSIR-CIMFR has produced oil from Indian coal comparable with petroleum. What we need now is sustained investment in R&D, which is what has taken China ahead."

Dr. Frincy said GSI's shale gas exploration in the Jharia, Raniganj and South Karanpura coalfields has established around 75,000 million cubic metres of gas in place. She added that GSI has proposed a standard procedure requiring rare earth analysis of at least one borehole in coal exploration. Coal can also be converted into hard carbon for sodium-based batteries, which would reduce dependence on lithium, she said.

Mr. Manish Singla, Head Mineral Auction, Jindal Steel, said, "Only about 28 percent of India's coal output today is G10 or better, so every additional tonne carries more ash that has to be moved across the country. Raising that share to around 50 percent by 2047 needs a real push to underground mining, which today contributes only 3 to 4 percent of production. Underground coal costs around Rs 2,200 to Rs 2,500 a tonne against about Rs 500 for opencast, so the policy support has to go further."

Mr. Singla noted that the Ministry of Coal has eased performance security, upfront payment and revenue share terms for underground mines. It has also simplified capacity expansion at existing mines to limit fresh land acquisition. He said Jindal Steel operates five coal blocks and has carried out initial studies and experiments on underground coal gasification, as the country works towards its target of gasifying 100 MT of coal by 2030.

The summit's message to policymakers was blunt. India has the coal and the targets, but the gains now hinge on clearances moving faster, rail capacity keeping pace with output, coordinated planning across the coal, power, steel and railway ministries, and fresh investment in research and underground mining. Without those fixes, speakers warned, rising demand from power plants and steel mills could turn coal from India's energy buffer into its next supply bottleneck.