New Delhi: The outstanding dues owed by the power sector to Coal India Limited (CIL) has risen to Rs 22,581.87 crore in October, registering a rise of 2.05 percent over the previous month, official data sourced from the Ministry of Coal showed. In September, the dues payable by power sector to CIL was at Rs 22,126.87 crore. The figure for October is the third consecutive time when the outstanding dues of power sector have risen after registering a nominal decline in July at Rs 20,570.76 crore.
The figures come months after the Centre announced the infusion of liquidity of Rs 90,000 crore into discoms to alleviate the financial stress in the sector.
The power sector is under financial stress mainly due to discoms' inability to pay power generating companies, which in turn, are unable to pay companies further down the chain, like Coal India, which supplies around 80 percent of its total output to the power sector. At the end of September, the cumulative dues owed by discoms to power generating companies, including CPSUs, state gencos, independent power producers (IPPs) and Renewable Energy developers, stood at Rs 1.25 lakh crore.
Even as coal production by CIL witnessed a growth of 18.7 percent in October over the corresponding month of the previous financial year, the overall production for the April-October period rose nominally by 0.9 percent year-on-year. The coal offtake at Coal India in the month of October grew by 25 percent over October 2019. However, the figure for the April-October period registered a decline of 3.4 percent over the corresponding period of the previous financial year.
The despatch of coal to power sector rose by 13.5 percent in October when compared to October 2019. However, the cumulative figure for the April-October period saw a decline of 6.6 percent year-on-year.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Telegram. Join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram and stay updated)