Coal India plans tech overhaul to check widespread theft

New Delhi

COAL India Ltd is making its biggest tech overhaul in four decades to check rampant theft and shed its image as an inefficient behemoth, spurred by an impending opening up of the sector to private firms for the first time since the 1970s.

The state-run company's monopoly had allowed it to delay the use of modern technology common in international mining, but it cannot afford to wait any longer as the government is soon set to announce a plan to allow private competitors like Adani Group to mine and sell coal.

Coal India's productivity is estimated at jus…