Govt Should Include Coking Coal in Critical Minerals List: NITI Aayog

The NITI Aayog has recommended adding coking coal to India’s critical minerals list, emphasizing its importance in steel production and infrastructure development. This aligns with global trends, such as the European Union’s declaration of coking coal as a critical raw material. India’s heavy reliance on imports (85% of its coking coal) underscores the need to enhance domestic production.

The report “Enhancing Domestic Coking Coal Availability to Reduce the Import of Coking Coal” advocates for policy changes to leverage India’s 16.5 billion tonnes of medium coking coal reserves and achieve self-reliance while adhering to Net Zero commitments by 2070.

Key Recommendations: Domestic Utilization and Import Reduction

Importance for Steel and Economy: Coking coal constitutes 42% of steel production costs, which is crucial for infrastructure and job creation. Despite having 5.13 BT of prime coking coal reserves, India imported 58 MT of coking coal worth ₹1.5 lakh crore in FY 2023-24.

Policy Interventions: Suggested amendments to the Coal Bearing Areas (CBA) Act, 1957, will enable PPP-mode entities to retain lease rights, incentivizing private investment.

Improving Washeries: Public-sector washeries have low capacity utilization (32%) and clean coal yields (35-36%), compared to private washeries with 75% capacity utilization. The government should allow joint ventures to sell washeries’ byproducts to lower clean coal costs.

Global Context and Strategic Implications

The EU’s inclusion of coking coal in its critical raw materials list, alongside green energy minerals like lithium and cobalt, underscores its strategic value. India’s high import dependence makes domestic production imperative to ensure energy security and reduce steel production costs.

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