The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge impact on Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) as its coal production and sales amounting to ₹5,000 crore were hit both due to production loss and low demand during the lockdown period.
This was stated by Chairman and Managing Director of the company N. Sridhar here on Wednesday during the 100th Foundation Day celebrations of the company. He stated that the production and sales were rebounding slowly with phased easing of the lockdown measures.
The company had diversified into thermal and solar power generation areas and secured new coal blocks in Odisha as part of its business expansion plans and for longevity of the company beyond the next 100 years, the CMD stated. Speaking at the event, Mr. Sridhar said the company was focusing on reducing the coal production cost to make the coal mining business profitable. Stating that Singareni had the capacity to face challenges, he noted that the company’s efforts in implementing welfare measures to the employees were unparalleled in the coal sector. In spite of the COVID-19 impact, the company had paid ₹ 540 crore bonus to its employees this year, he said.
He mentioned that the company had suffered losses continuously for 20 years till 1998, but the hard work of the employees and workers had made it profitable for the last 20 years. In the changing scenario of coal market, Singareni had to compete not only with other public sector coal companies such as Coal India but also private coal companies too, he stated.
To face such challenges, there was a need to reduce the production costs considerably by inducting more machinery and utilising the work hours of employees completely, the CMD said. On the solar power generation by the company, he said establishment of 300 megawatt plants would be completed by 2021-end and another 300 MW capacity floating solar plants would be constructed on reservoirs in the next phase.
Several employees of the company were honoured for their meritorious services at the event attended by several senior officials.
