Coal production rises 28% in April on strong demand from power sector

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Coal supplies to the power sector by CIL were 15.6 percent higher in the last month on yearly basis in the wake of the high demand of the dry fuel from electricity generating plants.

The coal ministry stressed that it is planning to augment its dispatches further, especially to power plants in the coming months. With a higher output, CIL is aiming to increase its dispatches further, especially to power plants in the coming months.

Coal India, which accounts for over 80 percent of domestic coal output, is one of the major suppliers of fossil fuel to the power sector. On average, the PSU supplied 1.66 MT of coal per day to power utilities in April which increased to 1.73 MT during last week. The average supply per day is at par with what was programmed by CIL for this sector during the first quarter of FY23.

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The coal production by the PSU also rose 27.6 percent to 53.5 MT last month over 41.9 MT in April 2021. CIL's total offtake rose sharply to 57.5 MT in April, registering 6 percent growth compared to 54.2 MT of the same month last year.

The government had earlier said that the current power crisis is mainly on account of the sharp decline in electricity generation from different fuel sources and not due to the non-availability of domestic coal.

Coal Secretary A K Jain had attributed the low coal stocks at power plants to several factors such as heightened power demand due to the boom in the economy post-COVID-19, early arrival of summer, rise in the price of gas and imported coal and sharp fall in electricity generation by coastal thermal power plants.

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