of William Princep, Carr, Tagore and Company joined hands with Gilmore Homfray and Co. in 1843 to form Bengal Coal Co., which opened up coal mining activities. Their headquarters was at Sanctoria.

Nationalisation of the coal industry was in stages. The management of coking coal mines was taken over in 1971 and the coking coal mines were nationalised in 1972. The management of non-coking coal mines was taken over on 31 January 1973 and these were nationalised on 1 May 1973. Coal India Limited, a holding