Coal India hopes to rejoin dividend list as ECL improves performance
Coal India aims to eliminate Rs 2,200 crore in accumulated losses at its subsidiary, Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL), and to rejoin the dividend list by FY 2025-26, a top official said on Sunday. At the foundation day event, Coal India chairman P M Prasad said Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, another previously loss-making subsidiary, has already re-entered the dividend list. He expressed confidence that ECL would achieve similar success by FY 2025-26. Coal India has seven coal-producing subsidiaries.
«ECL is performing well and is on track to meet its production target of 54 million tonnes this year. We expect to eliminate two-thirds of its Rs 2,200 crore accumulated losses this fiscal year, with the remaining losses cleared by the following year, allowing it to rejoin the dividend list,» Prasad said.
He added that the next few months would present challenges for production due to monsoon impacts on growth.
The public-sector miner is expected to achieve around 823 million tonnes of production by March, falling nearly 15 million tonnes short of its original target of 838 million tonnes set for FY'25. This comes despite a projected growth rate of nearly 7 per cent in the remaining months of the fiscal year. Notably, year-on-year production increased by only 2.3 per cent in October.
Prasad also highlighted the potential of Gevra mine under South Eastern Coalfields, which is set to become the world's largest with a production target of 70 million tonnes in two years. Gevra's current production stands at 59 million tonnes, with
