At least 31 of the 98 coal blocks that were scheduled to become operational over the last 10 years have failed to start operations under committed timelines, according to data obtained through RTI, underscoring execution bottlenecks in India’s push to expand domestic coal output.
Since 2015, at least 209 coal blocks have been auctioned or allotted. Of these, 98 blocks were scheduled to be operational by 2025-end. But, only 55 are currently producing coal — translating to just over half meeting their timelines.
Twelve additional blocks have secured mine opening permission but are yet to start production.
The delays come even as coal continues to dominate India’s energy mix, accounting for about 54% of primary energy supply and nearly three-fourths of electricity generation. A recent NITI Aayog study projects that coal demand will more than double from 2025 levels over the next 25 years before gradually declining. While India’s domestic output touched a record 1,047.52 million tonnes (mt) in 2024–25 — up 4.98% year-on-year —imports remained high at 243.62 mt, highlighting the continuing gap between demand and domestic supply.
Coking coal lag
Of the 31 delayed blocks, at least 12 were allotted to private companies, while the rest went to public sector firms.
Six were auctioned under the commercial coal mining regime in 2020.
There are also three separate blocks that began production ahead of schedule.
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Among the 31 delayed blocks, four — Moitra, Rohne, Parbatpur Central and East of Damogoria — are coking coal mines, critical for steel production. In the past one decade, the government has auctioned at least 21 coking coal blocks. However, none is currently producing, RTI data shows. Five coking coal blocks are operational but yet to commence output. There are also 12 coking coal blocks for which the scheduled date of operationalisation goes beyond 2025.
Notably, imports of coking coal have risen from 51.20 mt in 2020-21 to 57.58 mt in 2024–25, with about 95% of the steel sector’s requirement met through imports.
This is despite India’s estimated domestic coking coal resources being pegged at 37.37 billion tonnes.
To cut reliance on imports, the government has notified coking coal as a critical mineral in January.
Surrendered blocks add to the stress
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Separately, there are also 35 coal mine blocks — auctioned between 2015 and 2025 — which have been surrendered by allottees for various reasons, including technological and commercial unviability. Some of these mines have subsequently been re-auctioned.
Among these surrendered blocks, at least 22 were returned citing “techno-commercially unviable” reasons.
These surrenders occurred between 2017 and 2025, with the highest number recorded in 2022. An industry insider attributed this surrender to aggressive bidding in the early phase of the auction.
“Initially, many bidders quoted very aggressive prices during the auction. It makes mines financially unviable for operation, resulting in surrenders,” he said.
Green bottlenecks
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Several coal mine blocks that have crossed their scheduled operationalisation deadlines saw delays stretching across multiple years — with some projects running over seven years behind schedule, others facing delays of over five years or around four years. A number of blocks are also lagging by one to one-and-a-half years, while some have missed timelines by about six months to nearly a year. A
few projects had operationalisation deadlines as recent as December 2025.
The Ministry of Coal periodically reviews the status of non-operational mines to identify bottlenecks.
An analysis of such reviews shows that environmental and forest clearances remain the most frequently cited reason for delays in projects that have missed deadlines. Other issues flagged include pending mining plan approvals, delays in appointing mine developer and operator (MDO), land related challenges and commercial feasibility assessments. “We have urged the government to bring the private sector under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act to ease land acquisition for faster operationalising of auctioned Coal Blocks. A key hurdle in forest clearances is the lack of land for compensatory afforestation — states should create dedicated land banks, or the forest department could identify land and carry out afforestation for a fixed charge,” a senior official at Federation of Indian Mineral Industries said.
He added that while public sector firms are currently allowed to use degraded forest land for this purpose, the same provision should be extended to private players across all minerals including coal to ensure a level playing field.
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Since 2014, the sector’s auction regime has been governed by the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 and the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
In 2020, the Centre launched commercial coal mining auctions — a major policy shift that ended earlier restrictions limiting private participation to captive, end-use plants. Since 2015, India has accelerated the pace of auctions, putting more than 200 coal blocks up for auction over the past decade as part of efforts to boost domestic production and reduce import dependence.
A questionnaire sent to the Ministry of Coal remained unanswered at the time of filing this report.