State-owned miner Coal India Ltd (CIL) informed on Friday (February 27, 2026) that all its producing subsidiaries combined are holding pithead stocks of up to 115 million tonnes (MT) as on February 26, with the quantum expected to spur further as the fiscal year approaches an end.

Illustrating about the quantum of availability, the Kolkata-headquartered miner exuded confidence in its ability to meet peak power demand as summers approach.

For context, power demand peaks during summer months as consumers increasingly turn to cooling appliances to battle the heat. Essential to also note, according to ICRA, power demand is expected to rebound 5% in FY 2027 buoyed by expectations of normalised weather conditions, a lower base and continued growth in industrial and commercial activity.

The black carbon commodity is utilised to produce more than 70% of power in the country. Additionally, the state-owned miner with its subsidiaries account for more than 70% of the domestic coal production in the country.

According to the public undertaking’s estimates, coal stocks at domestic thermal power plants stands at approximately 55 MT, as on February 25. This excludes a transit stock, that is, stock in transit of 5.5 MT at goods sheds, washeries and ports put together.

Currently, the on tap coal accessibility of coal is approximately 175.5 MT through the three sources.

In addition to this, the in-situ coal exposure, that is uncovered coal which is ready to be extracted and made available for supply at shorter notices, stands at 60.2 MT as on February 15.

“The cumulative quantity of CIL’s pithead stock, plant stock at domestic coal based thermal power stations and exposed coal in-situ provides strong operational assurance”, stated a senior official of CIL.

The initial public offering of Bharat Coking Coal Limited was subscribed 8.09 times on the first day of bidding on Friday (January 9, 2026), driven by strong demand from retail, non-institutional and existing shareholder investor categories.

The issue received bids for 2,80,61,36,400 equity shares against the offer size of 34,69,46,500 shares, according to data available on the stock exchanges.

The retail investors’ portion was subscribed 9.26 times, while the non-institutional investors’ segment saw subscription of 16.39 times. The shareholder-reserved portion was booked 10.86 times and the employee portion 0.83 times. The qualified institutional buyers’ category was subscribed 0.30 times.

The issue opened for subscription on Friday (January 9, 2026) and will close on January 13. Ahead of the issue opening, the company raised ₹273.1 crore from anchor investors book.

At the upper end of the price band, the issue is valued at about 9 times price-to-earnings and around 2 times price-to-book value, as per offer documents. The issue will raise ₹1,071 crore from this offer for sale by Coal India.

Bharat Coking Coal is the country’s largest producer of coking coal, accounting for about 58.5% of domestic coking coal output in FY25. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited and holds estimated coal reserves of about 7,910 million tonnes.