Higher domestic coal output helps reduce imports, says govt

The government on Saturday said that with considerable increase in domestic coal production, India has achieved a significant reduction in the import of coal despite surge in power demand.

Imports of all grades of non-coking coal has come down to 125.611 million tonnes (MT) during April-January period of the ongoing from 163.845 MT during the corresponding months of the FY'20, a decline of about 23.33 per cent.

The domestic coal-based power generation up to January 2022 is 815.72 billion units (BU) with an increase of 12.55 per cent over 724.746 BU during the corresponding period of FY'20, the coal ministry said in a statement.

Imported coal-based power generation which was 78.07 BU during April to January 2020 has reduced by 55 per cent to 35.13 BU during corresponding months of current FY'22.

The import of non-coking coal primarily used in power sector has decreased by 60.87 per cent from 58.09 MT to 22.73 MT up to January 22 in comparison to the same period of FY'20.

The overall import of coal has also reduced to 173.20 MT during the April -January period of the current fiscal as compared to 207.235 MT during the corresponding period of FY'20, decrease of about 16.42 per cent which 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.

India is the world's third largest energy consuming country and electricity demand grows by 4.7% each year. To reduce the dependence on imports of coal, major reforms initiatives has been undertaken by the Ministry of Coal with the vision of 'AtmaNirbhar Bharat'.

The financial year 2020-21 is not being taken for comparison purpose as it was impacted by COVID19 pandemic.