Indian thermal plants to import 15 mln T coal

Fri Oct 24, 2008

NEW DELHI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Coal-starved Indian power utilities have been asked to expedite imports of about 15 million tonnes of coal in the six months to March, the power minister said on Friday.
Thermal power plants had a total of 4.9 million tonnes of coal in stock on Oct 19, against a requirement of 22 million tonnes, Sushil Kumar Shinde told parliament. On April 1, they had stocks of 11.04 million tonnes.
He said more than two-thirds of India's thermal power plants had less than a week's supply of coal. Coal-fired thermal plants account for two-third of India's power generation capacity of 145.6 gigawatts, which lagged demand in Asia's third largest economy by 16 percent in July.
Shinde said out of 77 thermal power plants monitored, 55 had less than seven days of coal stocks while 35 had stocks for less than four days.
India has allowed utilities to import 20 million tonnes of coal in the fiscal year to March 2009. Between April and September, imports were just 5.4 million tonnes.
"The utilities have been exhorted to expedite their imports," Shinde said.
State-run NTPC Ltd (NTPC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), India's biggest power producer which had to shut down two units for 14 days due to coal shortages, has been allowed to import 8.25 million tonnes of coal, junior power minister Jairam Ramesh said.
It has only imported 0.8 million tonnes between April and September, he said.