The government on Wednesday said coal supply by state-owned CIL to the power sector increased 7.3 per cent to 407 million tonne (MT) in the current fiscal till February 4.

"Coal India Ltd (CIL) has supplied 407.02 MT coal to power sector during current year up to February 4, 2019, thereby achieving a growth of 7.3 per cent over the same period of last year," coal ministry said in a statement.

As on February 4, the average rake loading of CIL to the power sector, including loading from washery and good-shed, was 252.5 rakes a day, registering a growth of 13 per cent over the same period of last year.

This supply is likely to further increase because of the opening of the Dhanbad-Chandrapura line, which shall facilitate faster evacuation of coal from Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL), a Coal India arm.

The increased coal supply has resulted in building up of comfortable coal stock at thermal power plants.

"As on February 4, 2019, power plants are having 20.870 MT coal stock which is sufficient for 13 days. This is an increase of 42 per cent over the stock of same period of last year," it said.

The coal stock at thermal power plants on February 4 last year was 14.68 MT.