Indian power utilities imported around 23.2 million mt of thermal coal over April-August, down 20% year on year, according to latest Central Electricity Authority data seen by S&P Global Platts Wednesday.
Of this, 16.34 million mt were shipped in for power plants designed to run on imported coal while 6.86 million mt were brought in for blending with domestic coal.
Out of 6.86 million mt, around 2.1 million mt were imported by six state-owned utilities to blend with domestic coal and 4.76 million mt by 11 private power producers also for blending purposes.
Twenty-nine power utilities did not import any coal in the first five months of the current fiscal year running from April 2017 to March 2018 and no data was not available for one.
Adani Power imported the highest volume of coal at 5.53 million mt, followed by Tata's Mundra with 4 million mt and JSW Energy with 1.45 million mt.
Among the state-owned utilities, Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corp. Ltd. imported the maximum volume at 928,000 mt.
Around 4 million mt were imported by power utilities in August, down 21% year on year.
India's coal production has increased substantially in the last three years, reducing imports. India imported 149 million mt of thermal coal in fiscal 2016-2017, down 5% year on year.
