Economy & Bankingv7 · 5 versions
India's Coal Sector
Coal still carries most of India's energy load - close to 55 percent of primary energy and about 73 percent of the electricity generated. Output stayed above a billion tonnes for a second year, 1040.08 MT in FY 2025-26, and Coal India supplied 322.90 MT between April and August of FY 2026-27. Two structural shifts sit behind the monthly counts: the auction-based commercial regime opened in June 2020, which has now placed 147 mines over fifteen completed rounds with a sixteenth launched on 17 September 2026, and a clean-coal push whose Rs 37,500 crore gasification scheme drew seven applications in its first round. Captive and commercial mines together made about 210 MT last year, roughly a fifth of national output, and are running ahead of that pace.
Last updated 17 September 202618 min read
Latest update
The 16th round of commercial coal-mine auctions opened on 17 September 2026, with 147 mines now placed across fifteen completed rounds and 44 new companies in the business - together worth about Rs 47,500 crore of annual revenue, Rs 55,000 crore of investment and 4.9 lakh jobs once built. Captive mines came through the monsoon about 5 percent up, at 68.98 MT by 10 September. The ministry also put its case on the Tara (Revised) block, sold at a 37.50 percent revenue share after the Lemru corridor was excluded, and told Punjab and Uttar Pradesh that weak generation is not a coal-supply problem - Uttar Pradesh's own 973-million-tonne Saharpur Jamarpani block is still undeveloped after eleven years.
- coal
- Coal India Limited
- commercial coal mining
- Ministry of Coal
- captive coal blocks
- coal production
- Sonepur Bazari
- coal block auctions
- coal gasification
- Mahanadi Coalfields
- surface coal gasification scheme
- Adani Enterprises
- NTPC
- Talcher Fertilisers
- 16th coal auction round
- Tara coal block
- Saharpur Jamarpani
- SECL
- captive coal mines
- smart mining
Read the full living note — free
The complete note in both exam lenses (UPSC analytical / fact capsule), its full version history, and “what changed since you last read” — plus tonight's quiz.
Open in CA·WikiAI-assisted, human-reviewed · sourced from PIB, RBI & ministries · editorial policy
More living notes in Economy & Banking
- India's Pharmaceutical SectorTightened the regulatory half of the card. A draft amendment to the Drugs Rules, 1945 - notification G.S.R. 791(E) of 8 September 2026 - would put CCTV cameras in medical stores to police sales of Schedule H, H1 and X medicines, after the Drugs Technical Advisory Board recommended approval. A Health Ministry advisory of 16 September restricts stem-cell therapy to indications on the Ministry's approved list and confines autism treatment to approved clinical trials, following the Supreme Court's Yash Charitable Trust judgment of 30 January 2026; breaches can mean professional misconduct and cancelled registration. The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission also released a reference substance for Enoxaparin Sodium bioassays at its biosimilars conference of 10 and 11 September.
- India's Foreign Trade - FY 2026-27August exports hit US$ 82.68 billion, 25.41% above August 2025, taking the April-August run to US$ 399.27 billion. New Zealand's Parliament cleared the FTA implementing law by 93 votes to 29, leaving only ratification; India and MERCOSUR signed their First Additional Protocol on electronic certificates of origin and launched negotiations to expand the pact; and exporters no longer need an RCMC for consignments up to Rs 3 lakh.
- RBI Regulatory Actions 2026Added September's enforcement run and two new rulemaking threads. Three more co-operative banks - in Davangere, in Niphad near Nashik and in Ahmedabad - had their Section 35A directions carried on, taking the list this card tracks from six to nine. Two fresh penalties bring the 2026 ledger to thirteen orders worth ₹1,48,49,800: ₹27.30 lakh on Asset Care & Reconstruction Enterprise, the first fine here to come through the SARFAESI route, and ₹1.15 lakh on Jilla Sahakari Bank, Azamgarh. The RBI also put draft KYC Amendment Directions out for comment until 2 October 2026, carrying out a Supreme Court order on temporary debit holds for money-mule accounts; recognised the Unified Fintech Forum as a second self-regulator for fintech; and closed thirteen NBFC registrations.
- India's Digital Payments Engine (UPI & Beyond)Recorded the merchant discount rate that has now arrived on UPI. The Finance Ministry's explainer of 15 September 2026 sets 0.4 percent on person-to-merchant payments above ₹2,000, capped at ₹300 from ₹75,000 upwards, with a flat ₹5 in the railways, telecom, insurance, fuel and agricultural-input trades and 0.02 percent on mutual funds and securities. Individuals are untouched: every transfer between two people stays free whatever its size, merchant payments up to ₹2,000 stay free, a small merchant taking up to ₹1 lakh a month keeps zero MDR, and the Ministry puts 96 percent of merchant transactions outside the charge. The Reserve Bank calls the framework a step towards UPI's long-term sustainability. The card's August position - that no MDR framework had been finalised - is overtaken.
- India's Balance of Payments AccountReserves cleared US$785.7 billion on 4 September 2026 - up US$44.9 billion in a single week, almost all of it in foreign currency assets - and the Governor put that down to very robust inflows through FCNR(B) and its companion schemes. The card now also carries the Reserve Bank's monthly balance of payments: July 2026 ran a US$7.0 billion current account deficit on a US$31.7 billion goods gap, while net NRI deposits of US$33.5 billion in that one month lifted reserves by US$20.8 billion on a transactions basis.
- RBI Monetary Policy 2026Reserves have run far past the figure the August policy worked from: US$785.7 billion on 4 September 2026, up US$44.9 billion in a single week, with foreign currency assets alone adding US$47.5 billion. The RBI is now draining cash rather than adding it - a ₹1,00,000 crore open-market sale of government bonds across 17, 21 and 28 September - while broad money grew 16.7 percent and bank credit 19.1 percent in the year to 31 August 2026. Governor Sanjay Malhotra says the rate committee will take a fresh view of growth and inflation at its October review.