Among the eight core industries, the coal sector has demonstrated the highest growth of 10.2 per cent among the eight core industries for January 2024, the Ministry of Coal said on Friday.

The recently released data from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said as per the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI)) the index of the coal industry has reached 218.9 points during Jan’24 as compared to 198.6 points during the same period of last year and its cumulative index has increased by 12.2 per cent from April to January 2023-24 over the corresponding period of the previous year.

The Combined Index of Eight Core Industries experienced a notable 3.6 per cent increase in January 2024, compared to the same period of the previous year, underscoring the coal sector’s substantial contribution to overall industrial expansion, the Coal Ministry said citing the data.

“The coal industry has consistently outperformed its counterparts, demonstrating sustained double-digit growth over the past seven months and substantially higher growth than the overall growth of eight core industries in the last two financial years,” the coal ministry said.

It is believed that the driving force behind this remarkable growth can be attributed to a significant surge in coal production during January 2024, with output reaching an impressive 99.73 million tonnes, marking a remarkable increase of 10.20 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year.

This surge in production underscores the sector’s capacity to meet the growing demand of energy and manufacturing industries, it added.

The exceptional expansion of the coal sector, coupled with its substantial role in propelling the overall growth of the eight core industries, stands as evidence of the Ministry of Coal’s persistent endeavours and proactive initiatives.

These efforts align with the vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and contribute to the nation’s progress towards self-sufficiency and energy security, the Coal Ministry said.

A few days back, the coal ministry also highlighted that Coal production has achieved a significant 11.83 per cent spike in February over the corresponding month in previous year, the Ministry of Coal said on Tuesday.

In February, the Ministry of Coal attained 96.60 Million tonnes (MT) of coal production, surpassing the figures of 86.38 MT of the corresponding month in the previous year.

The production of Coal India Limited (CIL) has risen to 74.76 MT in February 2024 as compared to 68.78 MT in February 2023 with a growth of 8.69 per cent, it said.