Thermal coal imports down 5% in FY25 as production improves

Govt targets to eliminate coal imports by FY26

- Arunima Bharadwaj

INDIA'S IMPORT OF non-coking coal used by thermal power stations reduced by 5.04% to 167.10 million tonne in the financial year 2024-25 against 175.96 million tonne in FY24, according to the latest data by the coal ministry.

The decline in coal imports can be attributed to an increase in domestic production which crossed 1 billion tonne touching 1.05 billion tonne in FY25, compared to 997.83 MT in FY24.

The government now intends to reduce its substitutable coal imports to nil by FY26.

The country's total import of coal including coking coal and other varieties also reduced by almost 2% to 263.56 million tonne in FY25.

India imported 54.08 million tonne of coking coal, also down by 5.48% than 57.22 million tonne in FY24.