State-run miner Coal India Limited (CIL) will invest approximately ₹1,900 crore in research and development by FY2030, the company said Tuesday as it moves to reposition itself for a shifting energy landscape.
R&D outlay nearly quadruples in a year
CIL’s R&D spending climbed to ₹245 crore in FY 2024-25 from ₹61 crore the previous year. The increase comes against a Department of Public Enterprises mandate requiring central public sector enterprises to spend an annual average of 1 per cent of profit before tax, calculated over the preceding three years, on R&D.
The company has also put in place a formal R&D Policy to govern its innovation pipeline.
The current push traces back to FY 2024-25, when CIL set up the National Centre for Coal and Energy Research (NaCCER), structured on a hub-and-spoke model. The miner says its R&D work has since progressed from proof-of-concept studies toward prototype development, corresponding to Technology Readiness Level 4 and above.
“We intend to shift R&D to a higher orbit to drive the company’s future growth and technological transformation,” a senior CIL official said.
IIT partnerships anchor research network
CIL has tied up with three premier IITs to set up Centres of Excellence functioning as research spokes under NaCCER: the Centre of Clean Coal Energy and Net Zero (CLEANZ) at IIT Hyderabad, the Centre for Sustainable Energy (CSE) at IIT Madras, and Innovation in Mining (IMiN) at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad.
The company has committed ₹253 crore to these centres, to be disbursed in phases, for pilot-scale research, prototype development and technology validation.
NaCCER is directly overseeing 19 R&D projects worth ₹225 crore being carried out by scientific institutions, while the three CoEs are running 13 additional projects at the pilot and prototype stage.
Focus areas range from carbon capture to nuclear feasibility
CLEANZ’s research covers enhanced coal bed methane recovery, carbon capture, utilisation and storage, mineral beneficiation, recovery of rare earth elements and critical minerals, high-ash coal gasification and syngas utilisation.
At CSE, the focus is on sustainable materials, circular economy practices, mine repurposing, environmental remediation, feasibility studies on micro modular nuclear reactors, and advanced wastewater treatment. IMiN concentrates on capacity building through research fellowships and addressing mining-specific technical challenges.
The company has also entered international research tie-ups, partnering with Canada’s Ergo Exergy on an underground coal gasification project at Eastern Coalfields Limited, Sweden’s Ericsson on 5G deployment at the Jhanjra underground mine, and Australia’s CSIRO on broader collaborative research.
