Coal imports, which had reached a peak of 248 Million Ton (MT) in 2019-20, declined continuously in the next two years to reach 215 MT in 2020-21 and dropped further to 209 MT in 2021-22, according to the Ministry of Coal data.
Despite a steep rise in demand for coal from 956 MT in 2019-20 to 1027 MT in 2021-22, coal imports have not increased. Coal imports grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.86% during the period 2009-10 to 2013-14. At this CAGR, coal imports would have reached 705 MT in 2020-21 and further to 866 MT in 2021-22. The import of coal could be checked only by sustaining increased domestic supply over the years, the ministry added.
All India coal production has increased from 716 MT in 2020-21 to 777 MT in 2021-22 resulting in an increase of 61 MT. Despite a steep rise in actual demand for coal from 906 MT in 2020-21 to 1027 MT in 2021-22, coal imports could be contained due to increased domestic dispatch from 691 MT in 2020-21 to 818 MT in 2021-22.
Domestic dispatch has not only increased to the power sector but also to non-power sector by 101 MT in 2020-21 to 104 MT in 2021-22.
The decline in coal imports during 2021-22 is largely due to a decrease in imports by the power sector which came down from 45 MT in 2020-21 to 27 MT in 2021-22, a drop of almost 40%. The decline is more steep if we compare coal imports by power sector in 2021-22 to pre-covid year of 2019-20 when such import was 69 MT. This is despite the fact that total thermal power generation in the country increased to 1115 BU in 2021-22 from 1032 BU in 2020-21, an increase of 83 BU in absolute terms and almost 8 % in percentage terms, the ministry further added
