Coal India Not To Be Split: Minister Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Putting speculation of breaking up state behemoth Coal India to rest, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal has said the new government will not split the world's largest coal miner but will work to smoothen the edges and improve its performance.

The new government wants to fix the coal sector quickly to ensure uninterrupted electricity supply across the country.

Coal is the cheapest fuel and is used to generate more than half of India's power.

India is home to the world's fifth-largest reserves of coal but delays in environmental approvals, land acquisition problems and inefficient systems have made the country the third-biggest importer.

Banker-turned-politician Goyal, 50, believes the problems can be fixed by keeping Coal India Ltd (CIL) as one company.

"We have been assessing the performance of Coal India in great detail and I think there is a lot of potential to smoothen the edges and enhance the production at different mines," he said.

He saw great strength and benefit in keeping CIL, which accounts for 80 per cent of India's coal output, as one company instead of converting its seven units into independent entities to unlock value and increase efficiency.

"I think while that can enhance the valuation of the company on the stock market, I don't see that as an impediment to good performance," he said.

CIL, which missed its output target of 482 million tonnes by producing 462 million tons of coal in 2013-14, has seven subsidiaries -- South-Eastern Coalfields, Mahanadi Coalfields, Eastern Coalfields, Bharat Coking Coal, Central Coalfields, Western Coalfields and Northern Coalfields.

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