Company chairman Pramod Agarwal told Reuters that it plans to invest about 60 billion rupees (US$825.8 million) in a 3,000-megawatt solar capacity project by March 2024. Its partner will earmark US$1.73 billion (125 billion rupees).
CIL said it will continue to close small mines and avoid any new project openings that would require mass hirings.
According to Reuters, the operator has already sliced 18,600 jobs over a three-year period through March 2020 when it idled 82 mining operations.
Further workforce reductions will be seen, he told the wire service, at the rate of 13,000 to 14,000 per year, and that saved capital will be put into its solar mission.
“Coal as you know, we’re going to lose business in the next two, three decades,” Agarwal told the news agency.