NEW DELHI: The country’s power demand is expected to increase by 7% in the current financial year due to robust industrial activities, according to Fitch Ratings.
The rating agency also observed that the robust power demand is likely to maintain high load factors for thermal power plants. However, it also predicts that coal import volume will remain modest, with higher local supply meeting a large part of the increased demand.
“Coal inventory at power plants has been declining since August 2023, when monthly power demand reached a record high. The government aims to boost local coal production and allow power plants to blend a higher proportion of imported coal in the fuel mix to ensure adequate coal stock.”
Recently, coal minister Pralhad Joshi said India is making efforts to stop coal imports by 2025-26. India spent Rs 3.85 lakh crore on coal imports last year. As per B2B e-commerce firm mjunction services limited, coal imports rose by 4.3% to 20.61 MT in September 2023 YoY.