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On June 10, Kishan Reddy was named minister of mines and coal by the central government. This nomination comes at a critical juncture in 2024 for India’s coal and mining industry, which is going through a lot of change and modernization. The sector, which forms the foundation of India’s energy and industrial framework, is concentrated on raising domestic coal production, lowering import dependency, and implementing sustainable mining techniques.
Reddy began his political career in the Janata party as a Yuva Karyakartha (youth worker). When the BJP was founded in 1980, he became a member. In 2019, he was added to the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has occupied significant roles as an MLA, the head of the state branch of the BJP, the national president of the BJP’s Yuva Morcha (BJYM), and Union MoS (Home) and Union Minister of Tourism, Culture and Development of Northeast Region (DoNER).
Over the last five years, India’s energy security and economic growth have been reinforced by reforms that have been implemented to modernise the coal and mining sector, improve production capacity, guarantee sustainable practices, and decrease reliance on coal imports.
The government permitted commercial mining in the coal industry in 2020, enabling the mining and sale of coal by private companies. Compared to the previous Coal India Limited (CIL) monopoly, this was a dramatic change. The National Coal Index was later developed by the ministry in an effort to establish a benchmark price for coal that was based on market pricing.
To enable faster mining operations, steps were taken to speed up the land acquisition and environmental clearance procedures.
Regarding mining, the ministry revised the MMDR Act to let private enterprises to investigate and extract vital minerals that are necessary for the switch to renewable energy sources.
Twenty mineral blocks, including lithium, platinum-group elements, graphite, molybdenum, potash, phosphorite, rare earth elements, and glauconite, were put up for sale by the government on November 29.
Establishing the Schedule for 2024–2029
Energy source diversification: Encouraging the switch from coal to renewable energy sources in order to achieve climate targets. The coal industry wants to increase the capacity of renewable energy from the current 1.75 GW to over 9 GW by 2030.
Coal Gasification: Given that gasification is a cleaner alternative to coal combustion, India plans to achieve 100 million tonnes (MT) of coal gasification by 2030 with investments totaling more than Rs. 4 lakh crores. Gasification makes it easier to use coal’s chemical qualities.
bolster the supply chain for essential minerals: Given that India is still in the discovery stage, the government is aiming to expand partnerships in order to gain access to minerals from other regions and is also providing incentives to Indian commercial agencies to expedite their exploration efforts.
Mission coal for coking: Fuel In an attempt to lessen reliance on imports for the essential component of steel manufacturing, India has planned to raise the output of raw coking coal from current mines up to 26 MT and has identified ten new mines. India currently imports coking coal from the United States, Australia, and South Africa; the expense of exporting the coal adds to the input costs for steel companies.
Group Media Publication
Construction, Infrastructure and Mining
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