Mjunction Services Limited, the biggest business-to-business e-commerce company in India, began its two-day 18th Indian Coal Markets Conference in Kolkata. The conference’s theme, “Future of coal: Towards a free market,” gave industry leaders a chance to highlight the fundamental shifts the coal sector is experiencing.

Discussions on the first day of the conference revealed coal‘s ongoing significance in the nation’s energy mix and addressed important issues facing the coal and energy sectors.

“Coal remains the backbone of India’s energy sector,” said Mr. Vinaya Varma, MD & CEO of mjunction Services Limited, in his welcome speech.

It is anticipated that coal will continue to be India’s primary energy source despite large investments in renewable energy. Nonetheless, the industry is undergoing significant changes, with commercial and captive coal mines producing 173 million tonnes through February of FY25, a 30% YoY increase. Additionally, modernizing infrastructure—such as coal handling facilities and rail networks—is improving efficiency and simplifying logistics. Due to market-based pricing and commercial coal mining, the industry is becoming more liberalized. Improving price transparency is the goal of the proposed coal trading stock exchange. The Future of Coal: Towards a Free Market is the conference theme for this year, and it reflects this change.

The speakers said that commercial miners would support efforts to ensure the country’s energy security and that coal would remain relevant for the next two to three decades. There is a gap between domestic coal production and demand, which results in imports. However, the gap will close in four to five years as a result of Coal India’s and private miners’ increasing output.

Priyanka Dutta