Coal Import: Huge foreign exchange expenditure is being incurred on coal import, coal import worth Rs 3.85 lakh crore in 2022

Coal Import: Even though India is one of the largest producing countries of coal. But to meet its domestic consumption, India has to import large quantities of coal, on which it has to spend huge foreign exchange. The government said that India has spent more than Rs 3.85 lakh crore on coal imports in 2022. 

According to the Coal Ministry, the share of imported coal in the total consumption of coal in the country has decreased in the last five years. Five years ago, 26 percent of the total coal consumption had to be imported. Which has now reduced to 21 percent. India imports 200 million tonnes of coal every year. The government said, the aim of the Coal Ministry is to increase the production of coal to ensure adequate availability of it for the country’s rapidly growing economy. Due to the efforts of the Ministry, the share of imports in total consumption has decreased from 26 percent to 21 percent during the last five years. 

According to the Coal Ministry, the dispatch of coal in the current financial year is going to be more than one billion tonnes. In order to provide adequate quantity of coal to the consumers, the government has set a target of production and dispatch of 1012 billion tonnes of coal in the current financial year. According to the ministry, in the second half of the year both production and dispatch are seen higher than the first half. During the last financial year till November 9, production and dispatch of 500 million tonnes of coal was seen. And this year this target has been achieved 23 days in advance. The Ministry has completed the target of dispatch of 500 million tonnes of coal on October 17, 2023 itself. 

Coal India is the largest coal producing company in the country. Coal India contributes 80 percent to the domestic coal output. According to the news of Reuters, after analyzing the government data, it has been found that in the first fortnight of October, there has been a decrease in coal inventory in the power plants of the country.  During the first two weeks of October, the coal reserves of the power plant have declined by 12.6 percent and have come down to 20.58 million metric tons. This is the lowest level of coal reserves since November 2021. 

Also read

GST Update: GST evasion of Rs 57000 crore detected in 6000 fake input tax credit cases, 500 people arrested.