Kolkata The Coal India (CIL) board has given the management the green signal to step up acquisition of foreign coal mines. Acquiring mines abroad is necessary since coal production at home will fall far of short of demand.

The gap between the power sector’s requirement and domestic coal supplies has been estimated at 292 million tonne in the 12th Plan period ending FY17. The Planning Commission has set a target of 76,000 mw of power capacity to be added in the 12th Plan over the current installed capacity of 1,82,689 mw. The Planning Commission points out that coal supply domestically from CIL and Singerani Collierieswill be only 450 mt, by the end of the 12th Plan period, against a total requirement of 842 mt.CIL has set itself a production target of 556 mt by 2016-17; so, supply to the power sector could be a maximum of 415 mt.