Importance : 

• Coal constitutes about 70 percent of the total commercial power consumed in India.
• Coal is a source of energy and raw material for many chemical industries. 
• It provides many by products i.e., tar napthaline, ammonia gas, coal gas, benezol etc. 
• These are used in the manufacture of synthetic fibres, rubber, plastic, explosives, dyes and insecticides.

Distribution :

• Currently the leading producer of coal in India are Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and 
• Madhya Pradesh. 
• These four states contributes 84.33 percent of the India’s coal production.

1. Chhattisgarh : It is having first place in the production of coal in India.

• It produces 31.3 percent coal of India. 
• Major coal fields of the state are located in the Northern part of the state i.e, Surgija, Bilasapur and Korba.

2. Jharkhand : Jharkhand is the second largest producer of coal in India.

• It produces more than 20.3 percent of coal in 2011-2012. 
• Jharia, Bokaro, Giridhi, Karnapur, Ramagarh are very important. 
• Jharia is one of the oldest and richest coal fields of India. It has been recognised as the “Store house of the best metallurgical coal” in the country.

3. Odisha : It is the third largest producer of the coal and contributing 19.5 percent of the total coal production of the country .

• Most of its coal deposits in Dhenkanal, Sambalapur and Sundaragh districts.

4. Madhya Pradesh : Jharkhand is the second largest producer of coal in India.

• The main coal depoists are located in Sindhi, Shahdol, Betul, Narasingour and Chhindwara districts.

5. Andhra Pradesh :

• It produces about 9.7 percent of coal. 
• It is found in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal districts.

6. Maharashtra : The coal deposits of the state occur in Wardha valley, Ballarpur, Warora in Chandrapur district.

7. West Bengal :

• It has 4.48 percent of the total production of the country. 
• Burdwan, Bankura, Purulia, Daijeeling and Jalpaiguri are the chief coal producing districts. ’ 

Production : The total reserves of all grade coal in India is 283.50 billion tonnes. 

• India is producing 560.90 million tonnes of coal in 2012-13. 
• So India ranks third among the coal producing countries of the world next to China and 
• It contributes 10.2 percent of the total world’s production of coal.