Coal India may revise Rs 60,000-crore capex: Bhattacharya

Kolkata: Coal India Ltd, which had estimated a capital expenditure of Rs 60,000 crore to ramp up production to 908 million tonnes, may have to revise it in view of the proposed Land Acquisition Bill.

"The current estimate of total capex is Rs 60,000 crore over the next five years. But it may get revised due to Land Acquisition Bill," Coal India chairman Sutirtha Bhattacharya said at the CIL AGM here today.

"There are some issues with regard to land acquisition. The final capex amount will eventually depend on the amount of land acquired," he said.

A large portion of the money would go towards acquisition of land required for mining of coal and the rest for buying machinery and equipment for the same, he said.

CIL requires 20,000 acres in next five years to acheive its target of 908 million tonnes.

The cost of land acquisition would depend on the proposed Land Bill which seeks higher compensation.

Meanwhile, the miner is in talks for acquiring mining assets overseas.

"We are pursuing diplomatic channels while pursuing these assets. We are in talks with various countries for buying mining assets," Bhattacharya said.

Coal India is planning to raise coal production from underground mining to 100 million tonnes in the next 10 years, CIL Director (Technical) N Kumar said.

"We are looking at ways to increase underground mining production. Currently, nearly 93 percent of Coal India's total production comes from open cast mines," Kumar said.

"The plan is to raise it to 100 million tonnes in the next 10 years. Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd has been asked to prepare a roadmap for the same," he said.

The miner had been able to sell 24.8 million tonnes through e-auction route during the April-August period as against 18.2 million tonnes in the same period a year ago, CIL Director (Marketing) B K Saxena said.

Meanwhile, informing the shareholders, the company said dues from NTpercent had come down from Rs 900 crore as on March 31, 2015 to Rs 600 crore in August.