365 of domestic coking coal production, metallurgical indigenous washed coal produced and import of coking coal in India during FY 2020-25 has been summarised in Figure 1. The import of coking coal is 51-58 MT in last five years, has underscored the necessity for optimising indigenous resources [1]. The Ministry of Coal has launched Mission Coking Coal in 2021 to enhance domestic coking coal production to reduce import of coking coal, keeping in view the demand projection of steel sector. This mission aims to increase domestic raw coking coal production up to 140 MT by FY 2030-31. As per National Steel Policy-2017, India is expected to build a capacity of 300 Mt of steel per annum to cater to demand of around 255 Mtpa by 2030-31 including 181 Mt through blast furnace route [2]. For producing 181 Mt steel through blast furnace route, about 136 Mt coking coal (10-11% ash) would be required (considering BF-BOF route contributing about 60-65% of the crude steel production and Sp. cons. of coke & PCI @ 380 kg & @160 kg/t of hot metal respectively.). The demand for domestic coking coal would depend on whether stamp charging technology is being used before feeding coal into coke oven or not. In case of stamp-charging technology is used, upto 30% of indigenous washed coking coal (18% ash) may be blended with imported coking coal and the demand of indigenous washed coking coal (18% ash) shall be 40.8 Mt by 2031. If stamp-charged coke oven batteries are not adopted in future, the demand shall be 27.2 Mt with blending ratio of 20% of indigenous washed coking coal (18% ash) with imported coal [3]. However, as per NSP–2017, the target coke rate for 2030–31 is 325 kg/thm, whereas globally, modern blast furnaces are already operating at less than 300 kg/thm. If the specific coke consumption is achieved at 325 kg/thm, the total coking coal requirement will reduce to about 116 Mt, and the corresponding requirement of domestic coking coal will decline to around 35 Mt (considering a 30% blending ratio). Figure 1- Illustration of the trends in domestic coking coal production, indigenous metallurgical washed coal produced and import of coking coal in India over the past five years As of April 1, 2025, India possesses ~37.4 Bt (billion tonnes) of coking coal reserves. Out of these 37.4 Bt reserves, ~5.1 BT is proved reserves of prime coking coal, ~17.8 Bt of proved reserve of medium coking coal. The coking coal are predominantly located in Jharia and Bokaro coalfields, account for ~ 90% of total coking coal reserve in India [4]. The upper seam coals of Jharia and Bokaro coalfields, which are good quality coking coals is depleting at a faster rate leaving behind the inferior quality (high ash) in lower seams (Seam VIII and below) which are low volatile. These low volatile coals fall into the category of medium coking coal and have ash content greater than 35%. These low volatile coals are of high rank (Rr % > 1.2 %) [LVHR], high inertinite content, low reactive content (30-45%), low volatile matter content (18 to 22 %), high ash (>35%) and hence, with lower coking propensities
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