India's coal gasification mission, launched six years ago, has yet to take off, with the country still far from its 2030 target of gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal.
The government raised the budget for the mission by over 1,075% to ₹3,525 crore in 2026-27, but almost the entire 2025-26 allocation remained unspent until January 2026, according to official records.
Despite the global energy crisis, the mission is again in focus as one of the measures to reduce India's energy import dependence, with the country importing over 88% of its crude oil.
While China has grown its own coal gasification programme, reducing its dependence on imports of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG), India's progress has been slow, with commercial output remaining elusive.
The coal ministry, CIL, GAIL India and BHEL did not respond to email queries on the mission's progress, with one person citing that almost the entire ₹300 crore estimated in the 2025-26 budget estimates remained unspent due to no progress made on coal gasification projects.
However, the government has approved seven major projects related to coal gasification, with ground-breaking done for four projects, and the Talcher Fertiliser Plant expected to be ready by FY27 December.
