Coal India said Tuesday that it is targeting to invest about ₹1,900 crores for research and development (R&D) by fiscal year 2030, as it looks to spur their activities in the realm.

The Kolkata-headquartered miner had spent ₹61 crore on R&D in fiscal year 2023-24, which increased fourfold to ₹245 crore in the subsequent financial year with the establishment of the National Centre for Coal and Energy Research (NaCCER).

Norms laid out by the Dept of Public Enterprises mandate annual expenditure on research and development must average one percent of the entity’s profit before tax from the preceding three years.

At present, the Centre is overseeing 19 R&D projects with a total outlay of ₹225 crore.

Further, 13 projects dealing with pilot-scale research and prototype development are underway at Coal India’s three Centre(s) of Excellence (CoE).

On the internation front, Coal India-subsidiary Eastern Coalfields Limited has an agreement in place with Canada’s Ergo Exergy for underground coal gasification.

Coal India also has an agreement in place with Swedish telecom giant Ericsson for implementing 5G technologies in the Jhanjra underground mine and Australia’s CSIRO for collaborative research.