Coal supply to the power sector by state-owned CIL increased 15 per cent to 122.8 million tonnes (MT) during April-June of 2018-19 financial year, the company said on Monday.
The increase in fuel supplies comes at a time when some regions, including the national capital, are facing power shortage due to fast depleting coal stockpiles at power plants.
"In a major boost to the demand-driven power plants, CIL (Coal India Ltd) improved its supplies to power sector with a growth of 15.4 per cent, during first quarter, backed by a healthy 15 per cent growth in rake loading," CIL said in a statement.
Coal supplies to power plants during the reported quarter stood at 122.84 MT, up 15 per cent from April-June, 2017-18, it added.
The company produced 136.87 MT of coal during April-June, 2018-19 as compared to 118.84 MT produced during the same quarter last year.
Spurred by higher rake loading, overall coal offtake zoomed to 153.43 MT at the end of the reported quarter, up 11.7 per cent from the year-ago period, it said.
Clearly, the focus is on higher coal output and increased supplies and there has been a consistent growth both in coal production and supplies to consumers during all the three months of the first quarter," a senior company official said.
The number of power stations having critical stock has come down from 30 at the beginning of the fiscal to 16 as of June-end.
"Our aim is to shore up coal stocks at thermal power plants to the normative stock of 22 days requirement and see that the coal-fired power plants do not suffer for want of coal," the company said.
"We are pushing more coal into the system to the extent possible. Of the overall coal supplies of the company during April-June, supplies to power sector accounted for 80 per cent. We have also requested thermal power plants to perk up their coal stocks," an official said.
Merry-Go-Round (MGR) despatches which primarily serve NTPC plants registered a growth of 12 per cent during the April-June quarter.
"With the enhanced supplies through MGR mode Uttar Pradesh-based plants Vindhyachal, Rihand and Shakti Nagar have built up comfortable stocks," the company said.
CIL loaded 217.04 rakes per day on average to the power sector during April-June against 189.9 rakes in same period of 2017-18, it said.
"The growth is 14.9 per cent. Overall rake loading at 238.8 rakes per day during the reported quarter recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent against 218.9 rakes during same quarter last fiscal," it said.
Coal India accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output.