Coal India Ltd (CIL), on Tuesday said that it will reduce 5 percent in manpower every year for the next 5-10 years to reduce costs.
State-owned Coal India, the world's largest miner, accounts for over 80 percent of the domestic coal output.
Coal India on Monday reported a marginal 1.1 per cent decline in its consolidated profit at Rs 4,586.78 crore for the quarter ended March 2021 on the back of lower sales. The coal behemoth had posted a consolidated profit of Rs 4,637.95 crore in the same period a year ago, Coal India Ltd (CIL) said in a filing to the BSE.
Its consolidated sales in the January-March period declined to Rs 24,510.80 crore, from Rs 25,597.43 crore in the March quarter of 2019-20, the filing said.
However, the expenses of the company during the January-March 2021 quarter dropped to Rs 21,565.15 crore from Rs 22,373.046 crore in the year-ago period.
The production of CIL during the quarter dropped to 203.42 million tonnes (MT) over 213.71 MT in the corresponding quarter of 2020. The company's offtake during the January-March period was at 164.89 MT, over 164.33 in the corresponding quarter of 2020.
Labour issues
In June, CIL said its management was likely to start negotiations with the trade unions this month over the salary hike, a move that is likely to have financial impact on the world's largest coal miner to a large extent.
Every fifth year at CIL, there is a revision of the wages of the employees and the hike is due from July 2021.
When asked about the financial impact that the pay increase will have on the public sector undertaking (PSU), Nathulal Pandey, president of HMS-affiliated Hind Khadan Mazdoor Federation, Pandey said it would be to a large extent.
However, according to a CIL official, the headcount of the firm is steadily falling as the net reduction of employees is to the tune of 13,000-14,000 per annum. The fall is likely to increase further due to natural attrition in the ensuing years, making the company leaner and fitter.
Coal India had in 2017 signed a wage agreement with workers unions proposing 20 percent hike in salaries for five years.
CIL, which accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal output, has a total workforce of 2.59 lakh. Of the total workforce, around 15,000 is the executive staff while the rest is the non-executive staff.
(With PTI inputs)
