The company has apparently identified 69 new projects and 56 spill-over schemes that are designed to aggressively boost output.
"Coal India Ltd has identified 56 spill-over projects of 11th Plan and 69 new projects for increasing the coal production during the 12th Plan period (2012-17)," an official government statement said.
CIL recorded 435.84Mt production in 2011-12, missing the 447Mt revised target for the year. It has fixed a production target of 468.74Mt for the 2013 financial year.
The company, which meets 80% of domestic demand, has set a 615Mt target for the final year of the plan with the assumptions that regulatory hurdles impeding enhancement of output would be removed, the statement added.
"The coal production target set by CIL for the terminal year of the 12th Plan (2016-17) is 615Mt, with the assumption that requisite clearances, environmental and forest clearances, land acquisition, law and order issues and evacuation problems are addressed in a time-bound manner with the cooperation of the central and state agencies," it said.
The Times of India said CIL was under pressure to scale up its output given increased demand of coal by the consuming firms.
A presidential directive was also reportedly issued to CIL to enter into fuel supply agreements with power plants commissioned between April 2009 and December 2011.
By last week CIL had entered into FSAs with a total of 14 firms, including Reliance Power's Rosa Power project, Lanco Anpara Power and Bajaj Hindustan.
The Coal Ministry issued a directive to CIL in April, ordering the company to commit to the supply of 80% of fuel supply to power producers or attract a penalty.
