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Informist, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2026

 

--Sources: Coal India formulating arm-wise plan to mitigate critical shortage

--Sources: Coal India taking up supply issue with inter-ministerial group

--Sources: Heavy rains hit supplies, loading by Coal India subsidiaries

--Sources: Some gencos advised by govt to increase captive coal output

 

By Avishek Rakshit

 

KOLKATA – With many power plants across the country facing an acute shortage of coal and coal suppliers facing logistical challenges, Coal India Ltd. has devised a plan under which a supplier other than the one previously assigned will supply additional coal to specified power plants. While Coal India's seven major mining subsidiaries have ample coal stocks, they have not been able to meet the requirements of power plants in some cases, mainly because of heavy rains, which have prevented the loading of coal. In some cases, the subsidiaries were unable to get enough railway rakes.

 

According to the plan, if one subsidiary is unable to supply coal to an assigned power plant, another will step in, officials from Coal India told Informist. The Maharatna company also plans to take the matter up with an inter-ministerial group. 

Coal India usually selects the subsidiary that will ship coal to a particular power plant based on proximity to its mines. Following this, the power plant and the generating company owning it enter into a contract with the chosen Coal India subsidiary for supply of the commodity. However, with some plants facing acute shortages of coal, Coal India is allowing other subsidiaries to increase supplies to mitigate the shortage in case the subsidiary contracted for supplies to a particular power plant fails to meet its commitment.

 

As on Sept. 22, 75 power plants out of a total of 190 thermal generating stations faced acute shortage of coal, with stocks at 39% of the norm of 57.9 million tonnes. A month ago, on Aug. 22, 32 power plants had critically low coal stocks and the average stock across all plants was at 53% of the norm of 60.9 million tonnes. A power plant is deemed to have reached critical stock levels when its coal stock is less than 25% of the normative stock. The normative stock at power plants keeps varying every month in accordance with the power production plan set at the beginning of a financial year. 

 

Supply  of coal to power plants has been hit by heavy rains in some regions during the southwest monsoon season, which has slowed supplies by railway wagons. Heavy rains across key mining areas in east and central India also slowed down loading of rakes by Coal India, which is causing the supply disruption while 76 million tonnes of coal stocks lie at Coal India's mines.

 

"Instructions have been issued to all subsidiaries to increase supplies and prioritise dispatches to power plants which are coal starved," a Coal India official said. "We are also taking up the matter with the (coal) ministry and the inter-ministerial group." 

 

Coal supply to power plants is being monitored continuously by coal companies, power companies, and a government mandated inter-ministerial sub-group comprising representatives from the ministries of power, coal, and railways. Officials from the Central Electricity Authority, an advisory and statutory body under the power ministry, Coal India, and Singareni Collieries Co. Ltd. are also part of the sub-group. The sub-group recommends allocation of railway rakes based on the requirement and coal stock position at Coal India, Singareni Collieries Co., power plants, and ports.

 

THE WORKAROUND

For coal-starved power plants in Haryana under Haryana Power Generation Corp. Ltd., which primarily receives coal from Central Coalfields Ltd., a Coal India subsidiary, the world's largest coal miner has asked Bharat Coking Coal Ltd., another subsidiary, to devise ways to supply coal in case Central Coalfields is unable to dispatch the fuel quickly. Coal stocks at all three power plants in Haryana are currently at critical levels. Against the normative stock of 752,400 tonnes, the plants have only 97.7 tonnes, which is roughly 13% of their requirement.

 

Similarly, half of the six power plants under Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. are faced with acute coal shortages. A second Coal India official said Bharat Coking Coal has been asked to ensure supplies in case Central Coalfields is unable to send coal to the three coal-starved power plants in this state in a short time. Overall, all six power plants in Uttar Pradesh have only 31% of coal available against the normative stock of 2.34 million tonnes.

 

With four of the seven power generating stations under Maharashtra State Power Generation Co. Ltd. in Maharashtra facing coal shortages, Coal India has asked two of its largest subsidiaries -- Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd. and South Eastern Coalfields Ltd. -- to expedite dispatches. Usually, power plants in Maharashtra receive coal from Western Coalfields Ltd., another Coal India subsidiary. 

 

In Andhra Pradesh, where both plants of Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp. Ltd. are facing a coal supply crisis, Eastern Coalfields Ltd., a Coal India subsidiary, has been asked to prioritise supplies to the state. The Coal India subsidiary will continue with its regular contracted dispatches but will prioritise supplies to plants where stocks are critically low. 

 

One of the two Coal India officials said Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp. has also been asked by the inter-ministerial sub-group to liquidate its idling stocks at ports to stave off any shortages in power generation.

 

CAPTIVE MINING

However, the onus of increasing coal availability is not on Coal India alone. "While Coal India is taking all necessary measures to increase dispatches, some power plants have also been asked to step up their own coal production from captive mines," one of the two Coal India officials said. 

 

For instance, four of the seven thermal power plants under Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. have been asked to increase production from captive mines by the power ministry while Coal India is increasing supplies from Northern Coalfields Ltd., a subsidiary company, and South Eastern Coalfields to feed the remaining three power plants in the state. Of the requisite 2.08 million tonnes of normative stock, Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam has stocks of only 249,600 tonnes, which is just 12% of the normative stock level. 

 

One plant under West Bengal Power Development Corp. Ltd. in West Bengal, another under Durgapur Projects Ltd. in the state, and one power generating station under THDC India Ltd. in Uttar Pradesh have also been asked to step up captive coal mining to increase stocks at the plants. 

 

A Coal India official said that back in 2015, the Saharpur Jamarpani coal block in Jharkhand, which has more than 973 million tonnes of coal reserves, was allotted to Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam by the coal ministry to meet some of the company's captive requirements for power generation. However, production at the coal block is yet to commence. 

 

"This puts undue pressure on Coal India to supply coal and upsets plans envisaged beforehand," one of the two Coal India officials said. "We have already offered to dispatch extra amount of coal to Uttar Pradesh Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam via road transportation, but there are operational constraints at its generating stations which is hindering optimal utilisation of available coal stocks."

 

Earlier in the month, the coal ministry had said that the average daily coal despatch to power plants had increased by 24% from around 1.37 million tonnes during Sept. 1-3 to 1.7 million tonnes as of Sept. 6.

 

Tuesday, shares of Coal India ended at INR 428 on the National Stock Exchange, up 3.2% from Monday.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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