The company’s R&D push gathered pace in FY25 with the establishment of the National Centre for Coal and Energy Research (NaCCER), a hub-and-spoke modelled R&D centre. Since its launch, Coal India said it has shifted its focus from proof-of-concept studies to prototype development corresponding to Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-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 Coal India official said.
The miner significantly stepped up its spending on research during FY25, with R&D expenditure rising four-fold to ₹245 crore from ₹61 crore in FY24. Coal India also formulated a comprehensive R&D policy to create a structured innovation framework, in line with the Department of Public Enterprises’ requirement of spending an average of 1% of the previous three years’ profit before tax on R&D.
To strengthen industry-academia collaboration, Coal India has established three Centres of Excellence (CoEs) at IIT Hyderabad, IIT Madras and IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, committing ₹253 crore, to be released in phases, towards these facilities. The centres are focused on pilot-scale research, prototype development and technology validation.
Currently, 19 R&D projects worth ₹225 crore are being executed under NaCCER, while another 13 projects are underway at the CoEs. The research spans clean coal technologies, carbon capture, coal gasification, recovery of rare earth elements, mine repurposing, wastewater treatment and feasibility studies on micro modular nuclear reactors.
Coal India has also entered into international collaborations with Ergo Exergy (Canada) for underground coal gasification, Ericsson (Sweden) for 5G deployment at the Jhanjra underground mine, and CSIRO (Australia) to advance collaborative research.
As of 1:36 pm, shares of Coal India Limited were trading 1.10% lower at ₹439.95 on the NSE.
First Published: Jun 30, 2026 1:56 PM IST
