Coal India, the monopoly miner of the solid fuel, has firmed up plans to recruit around 6,600 people in executive and non-executive cadres this year even as its sales reflect the declining demand trend in the broader economy.
“The pace of recruitment, which has currently slowed down due to the lockdown, will be considerably accelerated by Coal India and our subsidiaries once the situation normalizes as a large number of posts are vacant and many more are to fall vacant during the year,”a senior Coal India executive said.
Last year, Coal India recruited about 8,000 people in both executive and non-executive cadres.
It has already conducted written tests for recruiting 1,326 executives, but interviews were postponed due to the lockdown. The process will be completed in a few weeks after the lockdown is withdrawn.
Coal India also recruits a large number of doctors since mining is prone to accidents. About 400 doctors will be appointed in the executive cadre by subsidiaries in a recently decentralized recruitment process.
The operating units will also need to recruit workmen.
“This year, about 1,000 workmen are estimated to be appointed at all subsidiaries,” said the Coal India executive.
The company also offers jobs to families displaced by its projects. Land acquisition for new projects and expansion of existing projects have slowed down in a few states due to the current situation, but the process will be speeded up after the lockdown and 500-600 jobs offered.
The largest public sector employer after the railways, Coal India employs around 2.8 lakh employees, of which 19,000 are executives. The rest are in non-executive and workmen cadres. Every year, about 10,000 employees have been reaching the superannuation age.