Power sector dues to CIL rises by Rs 781 cr in Aug after marginal drop in July

• Official data also showed that the dues owed by gencos to Coal India went up by around Rs 6,500 crore in Q1 of FY2020-21

• Coal dispatch to the power sector by CIL saw a decline of 15.6 percent in the April-August period year-on-year

New Delhi: The outstanding dues payable by power sector to state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) saw an increase of Rs 781 crore month-on-month as it settled at Rs 21,351.77 crore in August, official data sourced from the Ministry of Coal showed. The total outstanding dues stood at Rs 20,570.76 crore in July, Rs 20,918.96 crore in June and Rs 18,624.39 crore in May. In the month of July, the total outstanding dues from the power sector to Coal India had decreased marginally by around Rs 350 crore for the first time since January. It was expected that with the government infusing Rs 90,000-crore liquidity into discoms, the situation of cash flow in the power sector would improve. However, the figures for August show a fresh increase.

Also read: For first time since Jan, power sector dues to Coal India fall by Rs 350 cr in July

The power sector is under financial stress mainly due to discoms' inability to pay power generating companies, who in turn, are unable to pay companies further down the chain, like Coal India, which supplies around 80 percent of its total supplies to the power sector.

Power sector dues to Coal India rose by around Rs 6,500 crore in Q1 of FY21

Official data also showed that the dues owed by gencos to Coal India went up by around Rs 6,500 crore in Q1 of FY2020-21. At the end of March, the figure stood at 14,374.05 crore, while at the end of June, it stood at Rs 20,918.96 crore. The biggest increase in the dues was recorded during the COVID-19 lockdown, when the figure went up from Rs 14,374.05 crore in March to Rs 17,000.64 crore in April. The company had continued coal supply to companies that had defaulted on previous payments as a relief measure during the course of the lockdown.

Coal dispatch to power sector by CIL drops 15.6% in April-August

Coal dispatch to the power sector by CIL saw a decline of 15.6 percent in the April-August period year-on-year, official data showed. The figure stood at 160.63 Million Tonnes (MT) in the April-August period, as opposed to 190.33 MT in the year-ago period. Coal dispatch from Singareni Collieries Coalfields Limited (SCCL) to power consumers saw a massive 45.8 percent drop year-on-year in the April-August period as it stood at 12.03 MT as opposed to 21.85 MT in 2019.

CIL monthly coal dispatch to power sector improves by 1.2% y-o-y

According to official data, coal dispatch from CIL to the power sector in the month of August saw a nominal 1.2 percent growth over the corresponding month of the previous year. However, dispatch from SCCL to the power sector dropped 33.3 percent in August when compared to the previous year. The overall coal offtake from Coal India in the month of August grew 9.3 percent but registered a drop of 13.4 percent for the April-August period. 

The overall coal offtake at SCCL saw a substantial decline year-on-year at 33.3 percent in the month of August and at 45.8 percent in the April-August period.

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