New Delhi (Platts)--21Feb2013/852 am EST/1352 GMT
Indian power utilities' thermal coal imports in April-January rose 32% year on year to 50.6 million mt, a Central Electricity Authority official told Platts Thursday. In the same period of fiscal 2011-12 the 37 utilities, including both government-owned and private sector ones, imported 38.3 million mt of thermal coal. The Indian fiscal year runs from April through March. Utilities that consume a blend of domestic and imported coal imported 26.24 million mt in the period, against a target of 38.44 million mt. Utilities that use only imported coal for their plants imported 24.34 million mt, exceeding the target of 20 million mt, the official said. India is increasingly dependent on imported coal due to a shortage of domestic coal, as state-run Coal India Limited is unable to meet the growing demand from the power sector.--Sapna Dogra, newsdesk@platts.com--Edited by Jonathan Fox, jonathan_fox@platts.comSimilar stories appear in International Coal Report. See more information at http://www.platts.com/Products/internationalcoalreport