New Delhi: Import of coal by the power sector has dropped by 2.15 MT in the April-June period this year in comparison to the corresponding period of the previous financial year, Minister for Coal Pralhad Joshi told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday. “… during April 2023 – June 2023, coal import by the power sector has decreased to the level of 14.21 MT as compared to 16.36 MT during the corresponding period of the last year,” Joshi said in a written response to a question raised in the Lower House of Parliament.
“As per the existing import policy, coal is kept under Open General License (OGL) and consumers are free to import coal from the source of their choice as per their contractual agreement on payment of applicable duty. Most of the requirement of coal in the country is met through indigenous production,” said the minister.
“The focus of the government is on increasing domestic production of coal and eliminating nonessential import of coal. In the year 2022-23, coal production increased by about 14.77 percent over the previous year. During the current year, till July, domestic coal production has increased by over 9.2 percent compared to the same period of the last year. The domestic coal production is estimated to increase to more than one Billion Tonnes (BT) in the current year 2023-24,” said Joshi.
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has reported that the receipt of domestic coal in the power sector has increased from 569.5 MT during 2019-20 to 731.7 MT during 2022-23 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 8.6 percent. As per the Daily Coal Report (DCR) of the CEA, the coal stock available as on August 5 at Thermal Power Plants (TPP) is 32.09 MT, which is sufficient for around 16 days.
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