India's domestic coal-based power plants held less fuel on Oct. 10 than in late September despite stronger deliveries, while Bloomberg reported an unverified shift away from a proposed imported-coal blending requirement.
The Ministry of Coal put plant inventories at 18.205 million tonnes on Oct. 10, down from 18.932 million tonnes on Sept. 29. Stocks fell by about 0.56 million tonnes during the first 10 days of October, compared with a decline of about 7.28 million tonnes over September, the ministry said.
Deliveries improved even as inventories continued to fall. Rail loading for the power sector averaged 469 rakes a day from Oct. 1-10, up from 426 a day in September. Average daily coal supply rose to 2.49 million tonnes from 2.21 million tonnes over the same periods, according to the ministry.
Bloomberg reported that officials had set aside a proposal requiring power plants to blend imported coal with domestic coal. Its account of that decision remains unverified. The report said officials asked Coal India Limited to increase production and the railways to improve shipments to power stations. It attributed the proposed change in approach to costly seaborne coal and a weaker rupee, which would increase the import bill.
Bloomberg also reported an unverified figure putting nearly half of power plants in the “critical” stock category on Oct. 17. The Ministry of Coal uses that designation for inventories below a prescribed level. It is a signal for closer monitoring; the designation alone does not establish that a plant has run out of coal or faces an imminent shutdown.
The Ministry of Power said India ended an earlier advisory to blend imported coal after Oct. 15, 2024. Coal remained available under an open import policy as of July 2026, according to the Ministry of Coal.
A 2023 Ministry of Power statement said imported-fuel costs pass into generation tariffs under applicable rules. That statement does not establish what the reported blending proposal would have cost electricity consumers.
