A lion’s share of India’s imports of non-coking coal are used up in the power sector which, according to CEA estimates, is growing at a CAGR of 8-10% in sync with the country’s overall economic growth. BigMint data reveals that India’s power consumption in the first five months of the current calendar year touched 700,855 million units as against 639,304 million units – an increase of roughly 10% y-o-y. This is because the country was in the grip of a sustained heatwave since end-April, with temperatures nearly touching 50 degrees Celsius in many parts of India. Meeting this unprecedented growth in power demand meant keeping adequate level of coal stocks at power plants.
