Fuel supply by Coal India to power sector drops 7% in Apr-Oct

The despatch of coal by CIL to the power sector declined 6.6 per cent to 236.97 million tonne (MT) in April-October period of the ongoing fiscal.

The state-owned company had supplied 253.76 MT of coal to the power sector in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal, according to government data.

The fuel supply by Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) to the power sector in the seven-month period dropped to 18.47 MT from 29.82 MT a year ago, it said.

In October, the fuel supply by SCCL declined to 3.32 MT from 4.19 MT in the corresponding month of previous fiscal, it said.

However, the despatch of coal by Coal India Ltd (CIL) to the power sector increased 13.5 per cent to 38.50 MT in October from 33.91 MT in the year-ago period, the data said.

The government had imposed nationwide lockdown on March 25 to contain the spread of COVID-19. Power consumption started declining from March onwards due to fewer economic activities in the country.

The COVID-19 situation affected power consumption for six months in a row from March to August this year. Power consumption on year-on-year basis declined 8.7 per cent in March, 23.2 per cent in April, 14.9 per cent in May, 10.9 per cent in June, 3.7 per cent in July and 1.7 per cent in August.

CIL, one of the major suppliers of the fossil fuel to the power sector, accounts for over 80 per cent of the domestic coal output. It is eyeing one billion tonne of output by 2023-24.