- IGSTPP coal inventory falls to just 73,300 t, only 17% of normative requirement
- India’s critical-stock power plants rise to 72 as aggregate TPP inventories fall to 23.43 mnt
Aravali Power Company Private Limited (APCPL) has floated a tender to procure 0.5 mnt of domestic coal for its 1,500 MW Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project (IGSTPP) at Jhajjar, Haryana, at a time when the plant’s coal inventory has fallen to critical levels.
The tender, GEM/2026/B/8029201, was issued on 11 September and seeks 500,000 t of domestic coal on a FOR-destination basis through Indian Railways. Bids close at 15:00 on 3 October and are scheduled to open on 4 October.
The procurement assumes greater significance when viewed against the latest plant-level coal position.
IGSTPP stocks fall to 17% of normative level
As of 17 September, IGSTPP held only 73,300 t of coal, against a normative requirement of 424,100 t — equivalent to just 17% of normative stock. The CEA consequently classified the station as having critical coal stocks, defined as inventory below 25% of the normative requirement.
The plant received 12,000 t of coal during the day against consumption of 17,900 t, implying a further daily stock drawdown of about 5,900 t. Its September plant load factor (PLF) was running at around 74%.
The stock position is particularly striking compared with earlier in the year. Publicly reported CIL/CEA data showed IGSTPP holding about 573,000 t in late April and 427,300 t on 8 June, when the station had around 28 days of cover and was not critical. By 17 September, inventories had therefore fallen by around 83% from late-April levels.
0.5 mnt tender could materially rebuild stocks
The scale of the procurement is substantial relative to the plant’s present inventory.
At 500,000 t, the tender volume is nearly seven times IGSTPP’s current 73,300 t stock and exceeds its 424,100 t normative inventory requirement.
The plant’s CEA-assessed daily coal requirement at 85% PLF is around 21,200 t/day. On that basis, the tender quantity is equivalent to roughly 24 days of coal requirement.
This suggests the procurement is not merely a small top-up but a potentially meaningful exercise to rebuild fuel cover following the sharp monsoon-season depletion.
The FOR-destination structure is also important. The successful supplier is required to deliver the coal to IGSTPP through Indian Railways rather than simply make coal available at source, placing responsibility for sourcing and logistics execution with the supplier.
APCPL’s existing coal linkages are 1 mnt/year each from Eastern Coalfields and Northern Coalfields, giving the station 2 mnt/year of linkage supply. The additional tender therefore provides another channel for strengthening physical coal availability.
India’s critical-stock plants rise to 72
IGSTPP’s position is part of a much broader deterioration in power-sector inventories.
CEA’s 17 September report covers 190 thermal power plants with 224.53 GW of capacity. Their combined coal stock stood at just 23.43 mnt, against a normative requirement of 57.86 mnt — only 40% of normative levels.
More importantly, 72 plants were classified as critical, meaning their stocks had fallen below 25% of normative requirements.
Of these, 65 were domestic-coal-based plants, five were plants designed for imported coal and two were washery-reject-based stations.
The deterioration has been rapid. The number of critical plants had stood at 59 on 9 September and 66 by 14 September. By 17 September it had climbed further to 72.
Coal flows also remained insufficient to arrest the drawdown. Across the plants monitored by CEA on 17 September, receipts were around 2.384 mnt, while consumption stood at 2.697 mnt — leaving a one-day deficit of approximately 0.313 mnt.
Tender highlights growing focus on physical coal security
APCPL’s procurement therefore needs to be viewed against a wider tightening in plant-level coal inventories rather than as an isolated tender.
IGSTPP itself provides a particularly clear example: coal stocks have moved from comfortable levels earlier in the year to just 17% of normative requirement, even as the plant operated at a September PLF of around 74%. The proposed 0.5 mnt procurement is equivalent to around 24 days of coal requirement and is almost seven times the plant’s current inventory.
With 72 thermal plants now carrying critical stocks and aggregate inventories at only 40% of normative levels, utilities are likely to place increasing emphasis on rebuilding stocks as monsoon disruptions ease and domestic coal production and transportation recover.
For APCPL, the tender is therefore less about incremental opportunistic buying and more about restoring fuel security at a plant whose coal buffer has been sharply depleted.
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