Coal India Faced Rs 700 Crore Loss In June Quarter Due To Diesel Price Hike

The country’s largest coal mining firm – Coal India suffered a loss of around Rs 700 crore in the April-June quarter of the financial year 2021-22 due to a sharp increase in diesel prices during the period, according to news agency PTI. Coal India lost around Rs 700 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal as diesel prices increased by around 35 per cent, according to Pramod Agarwal, Chairman, Coal India. Diesel was in the range of Rs 66-67 and now it costs around Rs 8, which is a substantial rise for the state-owned coal mining firm.

Coal India reported a net profit of ₹ 3,170 crore in the April-June quarter on a consolidated basis, compared to ₹ 2,079 crore in the corresponding period last year. The mining major’s profit grew 52 per cent year-on-year mostly driven by revenue and operating income.

Coal India plans to replace its diesel-run heavy machinery with LNG-fired equipment and seeks to add around 1,500 electric vehicles to its fleet in the next five years to support the carbon emission cuts. It targets creating a carbon offset of 2.5 lakh tonnes in the next five years.

The company has set a capital expenditure or capex target of Rs 17,000 crore for the financial year 2021-22, which is around Rs 4,000 crore more than its spending last year. Coal India expects an improvement in cash flow with the rising demand for coal and a higher realisation from e-auction sales.

In the previous fiscal 2020-21, the state-run mining company had revised its capital expenditure budget to Rs 13,115 crore from its initial estimate of Rs 10,000 crore.
 

On Tuesday, August 17, shares of Coal India settled 1.97 per cent lower at Rs 139.20 apiece on the BSE.