India with 2.7 percent of the world reserves, ranks sixth in the world in coal resources, occurring in Gondwana and tertiary formations. The Gondwana coals are largely confined to river valleys such as the Damodar (West Bengal and Bihar), Mahanadi (Orissa), and Godavari (Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh). Coal fields of Assam of Jaintia and Barail series belong to the Tertiary age. The lignite deposits of Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are also of the Tertiary age. The geographical distribution of coal reserves is shown in Fig. 1.

Most of the coal reserves in India are concentrated in the peninsular part within 78 to 88 degrees East longitude and 22 to 24 degrees North latitude. As per Geological Survey of India, the estimated coal reserves, down to a depth of 1,200 metre, stood at 208751.5 million tonnes as on 1.1.99. Of these estimated reserves, down to a depth of 1,200 metres, which is considered economically viable are 90 percent of the total reserves. About 83 percent of total resources are non-coking coals and 14 percent belongs to coking coals (Table 1).

Table 1 : Gradewise Reserves of Non-Coking Coal (billion tonnes)

Besides being a major source of energy generation, coal is also utilised as feedstock for a variety of products as shown in the schematic diagram on coal utilisation (Fig. 2).