Coal India posts its highest-ever monthly output and supply in October as it turns 51

Coal India Limited (CIL), which mines most of the country's coal, had its biggest month on record in October 2026. The Ministry of Coal said on Sunday evening that the company set new highs for production, total supply and supply to power plants, and for the number of coal trains it loaded each day.

The figures came on 1 November, the company's 51st foundation day.

The numbers

According to the ministry, in October 2026:

Production: 67.2 million tonnes (MT), the highest in any month. The previous record was 62.47 MT in October 2024.
Total supply (offtake): 70.3 MT, beating the earlier high of 69.4 MT in March 2026.
Supply to the power sector: 57.1 MT, ahead of the previous record of 56.5 MT set in May 2024.
Rail loading for power plants: an average of 310 rakes a day, against the earlier best of 302.8 rakes a day in March 2025. A rake is a full train of wagons.

The ministry said production, total supply and power-sector supply each grew 19% over October 2025.

By our calculation, October's output was about 4.7 MT, or roughly 7.6%, above the previous monthly record. Supply exceeded production by about 3.1 MT during the month, which means the company drew down some of the coal it had stockpiled at its mines.

Why October matters

October is usually a strong month for coal. The monsoon, which floods open-cast mines and slows digging and transport between June and September, has ended, and power demand often stays high after the rains. Companies typically use the months from October to March to make up for slower production during the monsoon.

For electricity consumers, the figure to watch is supply to power plants. Coal still generates the majority of India's electricity, and roughly four-fifths of Coal India's October supply, 57.1 MT out of 70.3 MT by our calculation, went to the power sector. When that supply falls short, as it did in parts of 2021 and 2022, plants run down their stocks and states can face power cuts.

Higher domestic output also feeds the government's push to cut imports. In a separate release on Sunday, the coal ministry said imports for blending at power plants designed to run on Indian coal fell sharply in August compared with a year earlier.

Fifty-one years of Coal India

Coal India was set up on 1 November 1975 as a holding company for the nationalised coal mines. It works through subsidiaries such as Mahanadi Coalfields in Odisha, South Eastern Coalfields in Chhattisgarh and Northern Coalfields in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The government holds a majority stake, and its shares are listed on the stock exchanges.

The ministry said the company produced 79 MT in its first year and 768 MT in 2025-26, which it described as an almost tenfold rise.

The production target for 2026-27 is 815 MT. By our calculation, that is 47 MT, or about 6%, more than last year's output. A single month at October's pace would produce about 8% of the full-year target, though output varies a great deal from season to season, so one month is not a reliable guide to the year.

What the release does not say

The ministry's statement does not give figures for the first seven months of 2026-27 taken together, so it is not possible to say from this release whether the company is ahead of or behind the pace needed to hit 815 MT. It also does not give stock levels at power plants, which is the number that shows whether electricity generators have a comfortable cushion going into winter.

Coal India publishes monthly production and offtake data, and the Central Electricity Authority publishes daily coal stock reports for power stations, for readers who want to follow those figures.