Table 1 – Distribution of coal across continents

Coal is the most important and abundant fossil fuel in India. It accounts for 55% of the country's energy need. Hard coal deposit spread over 27 major coalfields, are mainly confined to eastern and south central parts of the country. A cumulative total of 2,93,497 million tonnes of geological resources of Coal upto depth of 1200 meters have so far been estimated in the country as on 1.4.2012.

The lignite reserves stand at a level of 41.96 billion tones as on 1.4.2012, of which 90% occur in the southern State of Tamil Nadu. Other states where lignite deposits have been located are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, and union territory of Puducherry

The coal resources of India are available in older Gondwana (570 million years to 245 million years ago) formations of peninsular India and younger tertiary (60 to 15 million years ago) formations of north-eastern region. Formation-wise coal resources of India as on 1.4.2012 are given in table 2 below: