Coal India Ltd. India said it has dispatched about 375 million tonnes of coal by rail, all sampled by third-party sampling agencies , till December of the current fiscal.
The state-owned company said that the achievement underscores CIL’s enhanced focus on quality assurance and supply chain reliability amid rising domestic demand for coal, which accounts for a significant share of the country’s electricity generation.
“Till December FY 2026, CIL has despatched about 375 million tonnes (MTs) of coal through rail mode which was sampled by TPSAs,” the Coal India said in a filing to BSE.
Third-party sampling push
The company added that this volume highlights the success of third-party sampling protocols mandated by the government to ensure unbiased quality checks, bring down disputes with power plants and check pilferage.
Coal India stated that half of the dispatches were made through silos, where the installed automatic mechanical samplers ensured high standards of coal quality and process control.
The coal behemoth is aiming to increase this quantity to around 80 per cent in the current fiscal. In a bid to achieve this steep target, the commissioning of new first-mile connectivity projects and loading through silos is rigorously followed.
To ensure an impartial, transparent, and credible determination of coal quality, as stipulated under the fuel supply pact, CIL facilitates sampling and testing through independent Third-Party Sampling Agencies (TPSAs).
Why third-party sampling?
At present, 11 TPSAs are on board, empanelled by Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFCL) to carry out sampling and analysis at coal loading points of CIL’s subsidiary companies.
Coal consumers have the flexibility to select a TPSA of their choice from the PFCL-empanelled agencies for quality assessment. CIL has also taken steps to introduce online analysis at two of its subsidiaries to obtain real-time quality assessment results.
The move is aimed at further promoting the use of technology and transparency in the sampling. Notwithstanding these measures, domestic coal is highly heterogeneous; even within the same seam, coal displays different grades. As a result, the gross calorific values of two samples taken from different locations on the same rake are very seldom the same.
However, the use of technology for quality assessment has become a major focus area for CIL.
Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal output.
