Coal India and other coal producing units are all set up to ramp up domestic production as the country has reduced its dependence on imports for non-coking coal. The Coal Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that although coking coal is non-substitutable, India has substantially reduced the imports of various grades non-coking coal during the current financial year.
The country has reduced imports of high gross calorific value (GCV) thermal coal meant for industrial purposes and low GCV coal for power generation, the ministry added.
“In the first five months of the financial year 2021-22, i.e. up to August 2021, the import of all varieties of non-coking coal has reduced to 70.85 MT from 84.44 MT during the corresponding months of the financial year 2019-20, representing a decline of about 16.09 per cent,” the ministry said.
Coal Ministry said it has not taken financial year 2020-21 for comparison purpose due to industrial production getting severely affected during this year because of Covid-19 related restrictions where the decline observed is 21 per cent.
The reduction of imports of low GCV of non-coking coal, which is mainly used in power sector, is even more significant, the ministry stated. During FY 2021-22, up to August 2021, the imports of such grades of coal have decreased by about 47 per cent to 15.24 MT from 28.69 MT during the same period of FY 2019-20, it added.
This substantial reduction in import of non-coking coal in the current year has led to the overall import of coal being reduced to 94.15 MT in the period between April and August this year. It stood at 107.01 MT during the corresponding period of FY 2019-20, a decrease of about 12 per cent.
This has resulted in considerable financial savings in the current year as coal prices are going up sharply in the international market, the Coal Ministry said.
Meanwhile, the total domestic dispatch of coal has gone up by 9.44 per cent to 317.69 MT in the current fiscal up to August, as compared to 290.28 MT in the same period of FY 2019-20. The ministry said this increase was achieved despite serious challenges arising out of unprecedented rain in several mine areas this year.
“The government is continuing all efforts to further enhance the coal production and dispatch. Coal India Limited and other Coal producing Units are all set to ramp up the domestic production,” it further said.
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