- Why in news
- On 20 September 2026 the Ministry of Coal outlined how Coal India Limited is diversifying into coal gasification, power, solar, battery storage, critical minerals and R&D.
- What it is
- Coal India Limited (CIL) is the public sector coal producer under the Ministry of Coal. It is now building a Business Development portfolio on five platforms to use its land, coal resources and project experience for energy and mineral security. The aim is import substitution and a lower-carbon growth path, with commercial viability kept in view.
- Five platforms
- CIL's portfolio covers coal gasification and coal-to-chemicals, thermal power, renewables and storage, critical minerals and advanced materials, and diversified minerals including iron ore.
- Underground Coal Gasification pilot
- A phased UCG pilot is under way at Kasta West Block of ECL. It targets deep or unmineable coal, and the technology is not yet commercially proven globally.
- Chandrapura power JV
- CIL and Damodar Valley Corporation plan a 2×800 MW ultra-supercritical brownfield expansion at Chandrapura, Jharkhand, via a proposed 50:50 joint venture.
- R&D framework
- CIL's R&D Policy and Guidelines of 2026 prioritise projects at TRL 4 and above. NaCCER is the nodal agency.
Don’t confuse with Coal gasification vs Underground Coal Gasification: Surface gasification converts mined coal into syngas in a plant. UCG converts coal in place underground, suiting deep or unmineable seams.
Don’t confuse with CIL vs its subsidiaries: CIL is the parent company. Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) is one of its subsidiaries and hosts the Kasta West UCG pilot.
Economy terms and data: 42 Prelims questions since 2013, rising in recent years; they test what a term or instrument means. In Mains, 12 news-triggered questions.
Why it matters
- Supports energy and mineral security and import substitution of urea, ammonium nitrate and SNG.
- Helps a coal PSU prepare for the energy transition with solar, storage and critical minerals.
Problems
- UCG and high-ash Indian coal gasification are technologically unproven at commercial scale.
- Execution, cost, market and ESG risks, such as water, ash and emissions, could affect returns.
Way forward
- Replicate projects only after operating data and commercial performance are verified, using stage-gates and independent validation.
- Strengthen NaCCER and the R&D hub-and-spoke network to move research to deployment.
Put in your answer
Coal-to-chemicals investment: About ₹69,346 crore across four projects shows the scale of CIL's push into gasification for import substitution.
Integrated graphite value chain: CIL aims for a chain from mining to anode materials, with a demonstration plant with NFTDC for graphite of at least 99.95% purity.
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UPSC’s own questions that come close to this issue, from our Prelims and Mains banks.
No practice question for this one; the card may still help an answer. Why: Lasting topic on coal gasification and critical minerals, but a corporate portfolio update with few testable facts and no policy debate.
Worth revising until Prelims 2028: most news questions come within two years of the event.