India faces a critical technology gap in coal gasification as the country pursues its ambitious 2030 target of gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal under the National Coal Gasification Mission. Minister of Mines Kishan Reddy has allocated 100 million tonnes of coal — one-tenth of India's coal output — for gasification, setting a new direction for a feedstock primarily used to generate electricity. According to Rupinder Brar, additional secretary in the coal ministry, as reported by Business Standard, India lacks indigenous commercial-scale coal gasification technologies and requires adaptation of global solutions to local conditions. She emphasized that the country has not developed its own indigenous technologies and must build on existing global technologies while adapting them to Indian conditions.
Coal gasification is positioned as a key pillar of India's energy security strategy and a means to reduce dependence on imported products including liquefied natural gas (LNG), ammonia, methanol and urea. Brar noted that recent disruptions in West Asia have exposed vulnerabilities in India's supply chains and reinforced the need for greater domestic production capacity. She warned that if gasification projects progress as envisaged, India's coal requirement could exceed the 1.5-billion-tonne target set by the government for FY30, potentially requiring increased coal mining to support emerging industrial demand from gasification-linked sectors.
The government has approved a ₹37,000 crore investment outlay for coal/lignite gasification projects, as reported by Business Standard. According to Sonam Srivastava, Founder and Fund Manager at Wright Research, "This ₹37,000 crore is not meant to cover the entire cost, but to act as a spark for private investment." The cabinet expects an investment mobilisation of ₹2.5 lakh crore to ₹3 lakh crore to diversify the use of coal and substitute the imports of LNG, urea, ammonia, ammonium nitrate, methanol, and coking coal. Harshal Dasani, Business Head of INVasset PMS, explained that "The ₹37,000 crore outlay is best understood as catalyst capital under the viability gap framework, not the total quantum of investment required for India's energy security ambitions."
Indian companies have dabbled with coal gasification since the early 1970-80s when state-run Fertiliser Corporation of India Ltd set up coal gas units at Ramagundam, Sindri and Talcher. However, Indian coal's unique characteristics — high ash content (30-45 per cent), variable gross calorific value, and complex mineral matter — have posed technical hurdles. Atanu Mukherjee, CEO of MN Dastur & Dastur Energy, explained that coal gasification depends on feedstock type, technology, and the right ecosystem for economical, affordable and scalable production of syngas. The country's only functional coal gasification plant of scale, Jindal Steel's gasifiers at Angul in Odisha, is designed to process 2.4 million tonnes of coal per year, while efforts by state-run companies have failed repeatedly due to attempts to force-fit inappropriate imported technologies.
During a media interaction, Brar indicated that domestic technological capability remains limited, naming only a handful of Indian players currently active in the field, including Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and the Jindal Group. BCGCL, a coal-to-ammonium nitrate fertiliser project at Jharsuguda, Odisha, led by BHEL and Coal India, has proposed using BHEL's gasifier technology tailored to handle high ash content and variability of Indian coal. However, the technology has never been scaled for commercial development. The only Indian company to get it right is Jindal Steel, which adapted Lurgi fixed bed gasifier technology developed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s, suitable for high-ash, low-rank coal with carbon capture components to limit emissions. V K Saraswat, member of NITI Aayog, has suggested India develop technology that can handle various coal types, emphasizing that a one-size-fits-all global approach is unlikely to succeed.
