India's coal output remains below estimate at 58 MT in August: Govt data

India produced 58.33 million tonnes of coal in August, missing its target of 67.94 MT for the month, according to the government data.

The coal production target for August was 67.94 million tonnes (MT), according to the government's monthly statistics (provisional).

However, the production during last month increased by 8.27 per cent to 58.33 MT in August from 53.88 MT in the corresponding month of previous fiscal.

Country's coal output in the first five months of the ongoing financial year increased to 324.39 MT as against 263.97 MT in the April-August period of the previous fiscal.

The total despatch of coal also increased by 5.41 per cent to 63.43 MT in August over 60.18 MT in the year-ago month.

Amid rising demand, the supply of coal to power utilities grew by 10.84 per cent to 54.09 MT during August compared to 48.80 MT in the same month last fiscal.

The overall power generation last month was 3.14 per cent higher than that of August last fiscal.

Coal-based power generation in August has been 85,785 MU in comparison to 86,039 MU in July this fiscal, registering a minor drop of 0.3 per cent.