NEW DELHI: Even as Coal India (CIL) has issued a tender to import coal from overseas, the country’s coal import is likely to decline by 11.4% to 186 million tonnes (MT) this fiscal. As per the medium-term projections of the ministry, India is expected to import 130 MT of non-coking coal and 56 MT is coking coal. The country imported 210MT of coal in 2021-22 fiscal.
“India is likely to import 172 MT of coal in 2024-25, 173 MT in 2027-28, and 170 MT in 2029-30. The country imported 215 MT of coal in FY’21 and 249 MT of coal in FY’20,” said the ministry. As the country is facing an immense coal crisis, which is causing power shortages, the government directed CIL, India’s largest coal producer, to import coal from abroad.
Subsequently, CIL, for the first time issued two back-to-back international tenders to import the dry fuel on behalf of the state generating companies (gencos) and independent power plants (IPPs). Coal India floated a tender for 2.416 MT of coal to build up stock. The company again floated two international tenders to import 6 MT for the next year.
“In a first-ever, CIL on Wednesday floated an international competitive bidding e-tender, seeking bids for import of 2.416 million tonnes (MTs) of coal,” said CIL in a statement. On import, Coal India said it is trying to augment the production to meet the domestic demand. "The import of the coal is a step towards a state of readiness to combat futuristic coal supply crunch if any," the statement said.