Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) ended the financial year 2021-22 clocking 168 million tonne of coal production with an impressive growth of about 14% over previous fiscal 2020-21.

The FY’22 overall remained the year of achievements for the production subsidiary of Coal India, as it has set new milestones in all the performance parameters vis-a-vis coal production, dispatch and overburden removal (OBR).

Addressing the annual press conference here, OP Singh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director,  said, “The last fiscal has been a great year, full of achievements for the company, and I am happy to inform that MCL’s achievement in coal production had been 103% of target at a record 168.17 million tonne for the financial year ended yesterday.”

Mr Singh said that MCL had been successful in meeting the rising demand of coal during the third quarter of last Financial Year 2021-22, despite challenges posed by COVID19 pandemic.

“Besides, the company has despatched 176.17 MT coal to the consumers, with a growth of about 21% over previous year.

“Similarly, MCL has registered a growth of more than 18% in overburden removal at 207 MCuM (million cubic meters), which will help us increase coal production during the current fiscal,” the CMD said.

Mr Singh was accompanied by Mr KR Vasudevan, Director (Finance) and Mr Keshav Rao, Director (Personnel) on the dais while Mr SK Pal, Director (Technical/Projects & Planning) joined through video-conferencing.

Speaking about the future of coal demand, Mr Singh said, “It is estimated that the coal demand will continue to remain high in the coming times.”

“We have also made advance preparations, keeping in view the erratic rainy season and other operational challenges, to meet the rising demand by producing more coal,” the CMD said, informing that the company had also done capital expenditure (CAPEX) of Rs 3,805 crore for FY’22, which would help MCL in meeting the future goals.

The CMD informed that the company would produce 176 million tonne coal in the financial year 2022-23.

MCL is the largest coal producing company in the country, having its mining operations spread over Sundergarh, Jharsuguda and Angul districts of Odisha.