How Kulamani Biswal Helped Mahanadi Coalfields Become One of India’s Largest Coal Producers by Output and Profit

Coal still supplies most of the electricity India uses, and a large share of it comes from Odisha. The state’s mines feed power stations across the country. The company that runs many of them is less well known than the plants it supplies.

Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) was incorporated in April 1992 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Coal India Limited, headquartered in Sambalpur, to manage the Talcher and IB-Valley coalfields. From that base it grew into one of the main engines of Coal India’s output.

By the early 2010s the company’s scale was substantial. MCL, described as the second largest subsidiary of Coal India, produced 107.894 million tonnes of coal in a single financial year. A company of that size needs strong financial management as much as good mining.

Kulamani Biswal became its Director (Finance) in October 2010, with responsibility for finance, accounting and corporate governance. Those three functions determine how a mining company funds its operations, reports its performance and answers for how it spends public money.

He was well prepared for the role. He began his career at Coal India in 1985, joined the Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission in 1997, and became Chief (Finance) at the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission in 2004. He knew the company side of the sector and the regulator’s side.

The numbers moved in the right direction during his time at MCL. Its production was 96.34 million tonnes in 2008-09. By 2011-12 it was 103.12 million tonnes, then 107.89 million in 2012-13 and 110.44 million in 2013-14. That is steady growth across the years of his tenure.

Profit grew faster than output. MCL reported a profit before tax of Rs 3,010 crore for 2009-10, the year before he arrived. Audited figures show Rs 5,463.69 crore in 2011-12 and Rs 6,202.48 crore in 2012-13. In three years the company’s pre-tax profit roughly doubled.

Its position within Coal India’s family reflected this. Only South Eastern Coalfields, with output above 118 million tonnes in 2012-13, produced more than MCL’s 107.89 million. At the time of his move to NTPC, the press credited him with a pivotal role in making MCL the second largest coal company in India by production and profitability.

Not every year was a record. In 2013-14, MCL earned revenue of Rs 12,033 crore with an operating profit of Rs 5,429.08 crore, a margin of 45.1 percent, down from 51.3 percent the year before. Even so, a margin above 45 percent is a strong result for any industrial company, and it left MCL well placed financially.

None of this was the work of one person. Output comes from mine managers, engineers and thousands of workers, and a finance director does not dig coal. What the role provides is discipline, meaning clear accounts, sound capital decisions and strong governance, which is what lets operational teams perform without financial surprises.

That is a reasonable way to understand his contribution. In a public sector company, good governance is more than compliance. It determines whether investment is well directed, whether costs are controlled and whether the books can withstand scrutiny. Those qualities rarely attract attention, but they support everything else.

In December 2013 his career took him to a larger stage. He took over as Director (Finance) of NTPC, at age 52, with 28 years of experience in the coal and power sectors. The move from the country’s coal supply chain to its largest power generator was a natural progression.

At NTPC he applied the same financial discipline. NTPC’s own announcement says it reduced its cost of debt to 7.81 percent a year under his leadership. The habits of careful cost management and capital discipline carried over from one company to the next.

Recognition followed. He received the “CFO of the Year” award from EPC World, with E&Y as knowledge partner, and the “Financial Pride of India” award in the Best Finance Professional category in 2015. Both honours reflect a career that began in coal.

His time at Mahanadi Coalfields shows how financial leadership can strengthen an industrial enterprise without drawing attention to itself. Growth in output and profit needs capable management of the money behind it.

For anyone interested in how India’s energy system is run, it is a useful example. Mines and power plants make the headlines, but the quieter work of finance and governance helps decide whether they succeed. At MCL, Kulamani Biswal did that work during years of strong growth.

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