The government has asked state-owned Coal India Limited (CIL) to prepare to import 12 million tonnes (MT) of coal for power utilities for the next 13 months.

According to a source, state gencos and independent power producers have requested time until Saturday afternoon to determine the amount of coal they want, and Coal India will make import orders very soon. It will be the first time the Maharashtra firm buys dry fuel since 2015. "From July this year to July 2023, the Government of India has instructed Coal India to be ready to import 12 million tonnes of coal," the source stated. A request for information addressed to the corporation in this respect received no immediate response.

According to industry analysts, the government is putting out all efforts to increase coal stockpiles in order to avoid a repeat of the power outages that occurred in April due to a lack of the fossil fuel.

On May 18, the Ministry of Power warned that defaulter gencos would have to increase their imports by 15% if orders for coal imports were not placed by May 31, 2022, and the imported fuel did not start arriving at power plants by June 15.

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