Coal India Turns 51 With Record 67.2 MT Output in October

Coal India Limited (CIL), the public sector miner under the Ministry of Coal and the largest producer of coal in the country, completed 51 years on 1 November 2026. The anniversary arrived alongside the strongest month in the company's history: during October 2026 the miner set fresh highs in output, in total despatch and in the quantity sent to power stations.

Three records in one month

• Output touched 67.2 MT, beating the earlier peak of 62.47 MT set in October 2024.
• Total despatch of coal reached 70.3 MT, above the 69.4 MT sent out in March 2026.
• Despatch to power utilities stood at 57.1 MT, past the 56.5 MT mark of May 2024.

Each of the three measures grew by 19 per cent against the same month a year earlier. Movement of coal by rail kept pace: loading for power plants averaged 310 rakes a day, the busiest ever, where the earlier best was 302.8 rakes a day in March 2025.

The month in figures

From 79 MT to 768 MT

The company was set up on 1 November 1975 and mined 79 MT in its opening year. Five decades later its annual output has risen to 768 MT in 2025-26, close to ten times the figure it began with. For 2026-27 the government has set the miner a target of 815 MT.

Why the numbers matter

Coal still fires most of India's electricity, so despatch to power utilities is watched as closely as output itself. With the October figures behind it, the company has now entered its 52nd year of work.