NEW DELHI: India’s coal crisis is far from over, as power ministry, in its fresh directive, warned Gencos to place their indents with Coal India Limited (CIL) on time or their coal allocation will be further reduced to 60%.
It means defaulting power generators will have to import at least 40% more coal for blending. “Gencos/ independent power producers (IPPs) who either do not place their indents with CIL by 3 June 2022 or have not initiated their own tender processes for purchase of imported coal for blending purposes, will be allocated only 70% of the quantity of domestic coal… and allocation will be further reduced to 60% from June 15,2022,” reads the directive released on June 1.
Meanwhile, the government claimed coal import fell to 209 million tonnes (MT) in 2021-22 against 248 MT in 2019-20. Coal imports, which had reached a peak of 248 MT in 2019-20, fell during the next two years to 215 MT in 2020-21 and further to 209 MT in 2021-22. India is reeling under the immense coal crisis, which is leading to power cuts in many states. According to the Central Electricity Authority’s daily report ( 1 June 2022), coal stock at 100 out of 173 thermal power plants have reached critical levels.
The reason for the coal shortage in the country is the resumption of industrial activities post pandemic and cut down in imports by the government. However, the ministry claimed it has sufficient coal in stock but the only problem is transportation. While the experts believe, the crisis is due to faulty policies of the government and there is no fault of the state power generating companies.
Govt floats draft to list 25% shares of CIL arm
New Delhi: The coal ministry has floated a draft cabinet note for seeking inter-ministerial views on the proposal to list 25% shares of Coal India (CIL) arm BCCL (Bharat Coking Coal Ltd). CIL, India’s largest coal producer, had last month said it was planning to divest 25% in its unlisted arm BCCL. This is a part of CIL’s restructuring by the government. As per the reports, the coal ministry has approved an initial listing of 25% shares of BCCL. “On receipt of clearance from MoC the same would be placed to CIL board and the decision of the board would be disseminated to stock exchanges,” CIL had said in an exchange filing. ENS