Montek Singh urges CIL to adopt a coal pooling formula

To offset the impact of high import costs, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has urged Coal India (CIL) to adopt a 'coal pooling formula' which calculates the pricing of coal by combining the prices of imported and domesticcoal.

Montek Singh asked the state-owned coal utility to step up the supplies to power producers and to go for imports, in case of shortfall in domestic production.

In the backdrops of coal supply not keeping up to demand of supplementing power generation, Montek Singh has suggested 3 ways; first, Coal India to keep time delivery, second, production from captive mines, given to private and public sector companies, should be increased & third, to import coal.

Coal India is the single largest coal producer inthe world.Its production during 2011-12 was 431 million tonne (mt) and during the current fiscal it was projected to 462 mt.