The combustion behavior of three Indian coats of different rank with wide variation in ash content and maceral compositions were studied using a drop tube furnace (DTF). Each coal was pulverized into a specific size (80% below 200 mesh) and fed into the DTF separately. The DTF runs were carried out under identical conditions for all of the coals. The carbon burnout was found out from the chemical analyses of the feed coals and the char samples collected from different ports of the DTF. Char morphology analyses was carried on the burnout residues of the top port. The top port results show better burnout of the lower rank coals which however was not observed in the last port. An attempt has been made to account for this variation in terms of rank and petrographic parameters of the respective coals.