History

In the year 1871, Dr. King of the Geological Survey of India discovered coal near the village of Yellandu in Khammam district and one of the important coal seams bore his name. The Hyderabad (Deccan) Company Limited incorporated in England acquired mining rights in 1886 to exploit coal found in Yellandu area. The present Company was incorporated on 23rd December 1920 under the Hyderabad Companies Act as a public limited company with the name 'The Singareni Collieries Company Limited' (SCCL). It acquired all the assets and liabilities of the Hyderabad (Deccan) Co. Ltd. Best & Co., acted as Secretaries and Selling Agents. The State of Hyderabad purchased majority shares of the Company in 1945. From 1945 to 1949, the Hyderabad Construction Co., Ltd., was acting as Managing Agent. In 1949 this function was entrusted to Industrial Trust Fund by the then Government of Hyderabad. The controlling interest of the Company devolved on the Government of Andhra Pradesh in 1956 pursuant to the reorganization of States. Thus, the SCCL became a Government Company under the Companies Act in 1956.

Large-scale expansion of SCCL was undertaken during the initial Five-year plans. In 1960 the Govt. of India started its participation in the equity of the Company and also started extending loan assistance. Thus since March 1960 it has been jointly owned by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Govt. of India. In 1974 the Government of India transferred its share capital to the Coal Mines Authority Limited. The manner of extending financial assistance for expansion of SCCL by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, and the Govt. of India during V plan period was agreed upon in the Four party Agreement executed on 10th June 1974. Subsequently, the Govt. of India decided to control its equity directly in SCCL. Accordingly, agreement was concluded on 13th December 1977. The SCCL, the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the Government of India and Coal India Limited were parties to the agreement. These two agreements are popularly called quadripartite agreements.

The Company's accredited function is to explore and exploit the coal deposits in the Godavari valley coalfield, which is the only repository of coal in South India. Mining activities of SCCL are presently spread over four erstwhile districts of Telangana Viz. Kumuram Bheem, Mancherial, Peddapalli, Jaya Shankar- Bhoopalpalli, Bhadradri-Kothagudem & Khammam Districts.

The coal extracted by SCCL in the Godavari valley coalfield up to the year 2023-24 was 1753.78 million tonnes.