Coal imports in India, during the April-October period of FY 2024-25, witnessed a notable decrease of 3.1%, reaching 149.39 million tonnes (MT), the Ministry of Coal said on Thursday.

During the same period last year, coal production was recorded at 154.17 MT.

Advertisement

Additionally, Non-Regulated Sector (other than power) witnessed a more significant drop of 8.8%, during Apr-Oct’24 as compared to the same period of last year.

As per the data released by the ministry, there was a significant growth of 3.87% in coal-based power generation from April to October 2024 compared to the same period last year. Further, the imports for blending purposes by thermal power plants decreased substantially by 19.5% during the same period.

Increase in coal import for power sector is attributed to the import of coal by imported coal-based power plants (designed to utilise imported coal only) i.e. 30.04 MT during this period, up from 21.71 MT, reaching a growth of 38.4% in the corresponding timeframe last year.

In terms of production of coal, during the April-October 2024 period, there was a commendable increase with the production reaching 537.57 MT compared to 506.93 MT in the same period of FY 2023-24, marking a growth of 6.04 %.

This upward trend reflects the government’s ongoing efforts to streamline coal usage and enhance domestic production, the Coal Ministry said.