The commodity despatch by Coal India (CIL) to the power sector in the year-ago period was 405.61 MT, according to official data.
However, the coal despatch by CIL to the power sector in January registered an increase of 2.9 per cent to 43.20 MT, over 42 MT in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal, it said.
The supply of dry-fuel by Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), a state-owned coal miner, in the April-January period also registered a decline of 2.6 per cent to 44.03 MT, over 45.22 MT in the year-ago period.
Stating rain as the 'enemy of the coal sector', a government official had earlier blamed extended monsoon for the loss of coal output for a few months (from July) in the current fiscal.
CIL saw its production decline by 3.9 per cent to 451.52 MT in April-January period, over 469.65 MT in the year-ago period.
The state-owned firm had earlier said that it will produce 750 MT of coal in the next financial year.
The firm will further produce 1 billion tonnes of coal by FY2024, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi had said.
The public sector undertaking has been given a target of producing 660 million tonnes of coal amounting to 82 per cent of the country's coal output.
Joshi had said that with the demand for power rising steeply, there is enough opportunity for both government and private sectors to produce coal without adversely impacting each other. SID SID ANSANS