India’s coal import down by 20.52% despite surge in power demand

• The import of Non-Coking coal has decreased by 59.20 percent from 52.49 MT to 21.41 MT upto December 2021 in comparison to the same period of FY20
• The overall import of coal has also reduced to 160.84 MT in the period April to December 2021 as compared to 186.65 MT during the corresponding period of FY20

New Delhi: With increase in domestic production of coal, India has achieved significant reduction in import despite surge in power demand. Imports of all grades of Non-Coking Coal has come down to 117.507 Million Tonnes (MT) during April-December 2021 from 147.85 MT during the corresponding months of FY20, leading to a decline of about 20.52 percent, said the Ministry of Coal. The import of Non-Coking coal, which is primarily used in the power sector, has decreased by 59.20 percent from 52.49 MT to 21.41 MT upto December 2021 in comparison to the same period of FY20.

Overall import of coal has decreased by 13.82%

The overall import of coal has also reduced to 160.84 MT in the period April to December 2021 as compared to 186.65 MT during the corresponding period of FY20, indicating a decrease of about 13.82 percent. This has resulted in significant savings of forex reserves this year, especially when the coal prices are at a high level in the international market. All efforts are on to further enhance domestic coal production as availability of additional coal will aid in import-substitution of coal, said the ministry.

The domestic coal-based power generation upto December 2021 is 727.39 Billion Units (BU), which marks an increase of 12.10 percent over generation of 648.843 BU during the corresponding period of FY20. Imported coal-based power generation, which was 69.56 BU during April to December 2019, has reduced by 53.10 percent to 32.62 BU during the corresponding months of FY22.

The financial year 2020-21 is not being considered for comparison purpose due to industrial production getting severely affected because of the Covid–19 pandemic.

Captive mines have bumped India's coal production by36.75%

India is the world's third-largest energy consuming country and electricity demand grows by 4.7 percent every year. To reduce dependence on imports of coal, major reforms have been carried out by the Ministry of Coal with the vision of "Atmanirbhar Bharat," said the ministry. The ministry has also amended the Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules, 1960 under MMDR (Amendment) Act, 2021 to allow lessee of captive mines to sell coal or lignite up to 50 percent of the total excess production after meeting the requirements of the end-use plant. With this amendment, the ministry has paved the way for releasing of additional coal in the market by greater utilisation of mining capacities of captive coal blocks which has led to increase in production of coal by 36.75 percent from 45.47 MT upto December 2019 to 62.18 MT during the corresponding period of FY22.

The reforms have led to an increase in domestic production of coal by 8.68 percent and consequently, the overall coal production rose to 522.34 MT upto December 2021 as compared to 480.62 MT in the corresponding months of FY20.

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