India to stock up on coal for next year

Amid growing power demand, the Union coal ministry plans to stock up on coal with a higher opening stock of about 50 million tonnes at thermal power plants by April 2026, said two people in the know of the developments.

- Rituraj Baruah

The opening stock for FY25 was 47.78 million tonnes. The bid to increase coal stocks comes on the back of expectations that peak electricity demand may surpass the record 250 GW met on 30 May 2024, which made the government look at coal to meet the growing demand.

The government has targeted to cross 1 billion tonne coal production for the first time in FY25.

"For the next year (FY25), the plan is to have 50 million tonnes at the start of the fiscal. Efforts are underway with increased production and the ministry is confident that the target would be met," said one of the people mentioned above.

With an average requirement of 2.72 million tonnes per day, the 50 million tonne stock would be adequate to operate the plants for around 18 days.