NEW DELHI - India expects domestic coal output to increase by 10.9% to 1.13-billion metric tons in the fiscal year ending March 2025, a senior government official said, driven mainly by higher production from mines owned by private companies.

State-run Coal India is expected to boost production to 850-million tons from an estimated 780-million tons in 2023/24, but its share in overall output is expected to drop to 75% from 80% in 2022/23.

If output meets expectations, it will mark the third straight year of India's coal output rising by more than 10%.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has cited energy security concerns amid surging power demand and low per-capita emissions to defend India's high dependence on coal. Power generation in 2023 increased by 11.3%, the fastest pace in at least five years.

The world's second largest user of coal has also been boosting imports of thermal coal, which increased 9.4% to 176.3-million tons in the year ended December 2023, according to consultancy Coalmint.

Coal-fired energy output surged 14.7% in 2023, outpacing renewable output growth for the first time since at least 2019.

Captive mines - which mine coal for their own use - are seen boosting production to 175 million tons in 2024/25, 30-million tons more than estimated in 2023/24, the official said. Output from mines recently auctioned to private companies are expected to boost output by over 40% to 20-million tons in 2024/25.

Smaller miner Singreni Collieries is expected to produce 72-million tons in 2024/25, compared with an estimated 70-million tons in 2023/24. NLC India is expected to produce 17.8-million tons in 2024/25, compared with 14.44 million tons this fiscal year.

India has contributed most to the rise in Asia's coal-fired power output, with an increase in generation outpacing other coal-dependent major economies such as Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam.