Patna: Coal India Limited (CIL), which was in the red, made a turnaround by reaping a profit of Rs 1400 crore during 2001-2002, Coal Minister Ramvilas Paswan said.

"The CIL which had incurred a loss of Rs 1,414 crore has performed better ever since I took over the charge of Coal ministry. It has been turned into a profit-making one," Paswan told reporters in Patna.

He claimed that the CIL had surpassed the production target fixed at 279 million tonnes during the fiscal year.

Paswan said the loss-making CIL subsidiaries like Central Coalfields Limited (CCL), Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) and Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL) too improved their performance.

The loss of CCL had been reduced to Rs 120 crore during 2001-02 as compared to Rs 300 crore during the corresponding period last year. ECL had made up half of its loss worth over Rs 350 crore during 2001-2002 while BCCL reduced its loss to Rs 700 crore, he said.

BCCL had incurred accumulative loss of Rs 950 crore in 2000-2001.

PTI