Capital expenditure by coal CPSEs climbs 28.3%

Units meet 75% of annual target

Khammam, Telangana, 10/01/2022: To achieve the annual coal production target of 68 million tonnes by March 31, the Singareni coal company focused on maximising the use of heavy machinery in its opencast projects. The SCCL management initiated a slew of steps like increasing the usage hours of heavy machinery to 18 hours a day to realise their full potential. Photo: G N Rao / The Hindu.

The government on Wednesday said the Ministry of Coal, through its CPSEs, has registered a 28.3% year-on-year growth in capital expenditure (capex) to ₹12,605.75 crore for the period ended December.

The Ministry of Coal, through its Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), had registered capex of ₹9,822.28 crore a year earlier.

This capex achievement is also 75% of the Ministry of Coal’s annual target, the Ministry said in a statement.

Coal India (CIL) is one of the CPSEs under the Coal Ministry. CIL had earlier said its capital expenditure jumped more than two-fold to ₹1,840 crore in the first quarter of this fiscal, compared with ₹844 crore a year earlier. It said the jump was a reflection of its stepping up investments in evacuation infrastructure, land acquisition and procurement of heavy equipment.

CIL has achieved 94% of the target of ₹1,960 crore, set for April-June quarter of the ongoing fiscal.