As India is set to achieve a record-breaking coal production of 1 billion tonnes in the fiscal year 2023-24 (April 2023-March 2024), overall coal imports are anticipated to decline, Coal Secretary Armit Lal Meena said.

The Indian government is optimistic about ending the current fiscal with a 2% decline to 19% share of imported coal out of the country's total coal consumption from 21% in FY2022-23.

During the April to December 2023 period, coal production increased 12.47% to 684.31 million tonnes, compared to 608.34 million tonnes in the previous fiscal.

At least nine commercial coal mines are forecast to commence production before the end of the ongoing fiscal, further enhancing production capacity.

Coal Secretary Meena stood confident in ample coal supply for the power sector to meet rising power demand in the next financial year. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) projected a peak power demand of 256.53 GW in FY2024-25.

Looking ahead, India aims to produce abput 1.12 billion tonnes of coal in the next fiscal, which is expected to reduce coal imports from 4.5% to 2%.

The country's long-term objective is to achieve self-sufficiency in thermal coal and eliminate coal imports entirely by FY2025-26. Despite possessing the world's fifth-largest coal reserves, mostly consisting of non-coking coal suitable for power generation, India has been importing coal to meet its growing power demand since 2021.

(Writing by Riley Liang  Editing by Emma Yang)
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