Although Coal India feels it produces coal at competitive rates, it is critical of its own operating performance. For instance, similar class of shovels in international mines is operated 40-50% more hours annually than at Coal India. "Equipment utilisation rates at mines operated contractually have been seen to be better than those operated departmentally by the monopoly. "For instance, in Coal India subsidiary, Eastern Coalfields , in 2016-17, the utilisation rate of hired excavators was 93%, against 73% utilisation rate for departmental excavators. The vision document said the sector is beset with relatively small scale mining with limited mechanisation and scale of equipment.

Source: Economic Times February 12, 2018 02:15 UTC