Indian power utilities imported 60.38 million mt of thermal coal over April 2016-February 2017, down almost 20% year on year, according to data released by the Central Electricity Authority, seen by S&P Global Platts Tuesday.
The April-February imports registered a growth of 10.8% month on month.
Of the total quantity, 18.50 million mt was imported by 29 utilities for blending with domestic coal, while 41.88 million mt was imported by 11 utilities for power plants that use only imported coal.
Fifteen utilities did not import any coal during the 11 months of the ongoing Indian fiscal year, while no data was available for one utility.
Private sector power company Adani Power imported the largest volume of thermal coal during the 11-month period at around 14.5 million mt. Tata's Mundra Ultra Mega Power Project followed with around 9.9 million mt.
On a monthly basis, February imports stood at 5.63 million mt, falling by around 16% year on year.
The government plans to reduce the country's dependency on imported coal, to facilitate the consumption of the surplus fossil fuel produced by state-run miner Coal India Limited.
CEA has not assigned any targets for power utilities for the current fiscal year. However, they can procure imported coal if they find it to be more economical than using domestic coal, especially for coastal power plants.
Power utilities had imported around 80.47 million mt of thermal coal in fiscal 2015-2016 (April-March), down 11.8% year on year, and below the target of 84 million mt.
