New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) The coal ministry is ready to meet 906 million tonnes (MT) of anticipated coal demand for the power sector in 2025-26, a senior government official said on Friday.
Meetings are also underway at inter-ministerial and secretary level for preparedness of coal supply in the approaching summer season, Vismita Tej, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, said at a press conference here.
“For FY26, the power ministry has communicated their demand with us and it is 906 MT. Accordingly, we will be distributing it (target) amongst our three major coal-producing sources — Coal India, captive and commercial (mines) and third is Singareni (Collieries Company Ltd). This is as far as the power demand is concerned,” she said.
The requirement for FY26 is 3.66 per cent higher that the power sector’s demand of 874 million tonnes (MT) in the financial year ending March 31, 2025.
The demand for FY25 will also be met, she said.
About preparedness for summer this year, Tej said the inter-ministerial committee meets very often — at the ministry level twice a week and at the secretary level once a month — to discuss coal supply preparedness.
“So the discussion that comes up of it is that to have a comfortable summer at least 50 MT of stock is required at the thermal power plans (TPPs). On January 24 it was 47 MT and as of today we have 49 MT-plus of coal at TPPs so you can calculate what will be at the end of this fiscal year. So we are well prepared for the summer ahead,” she said.
The ministry is also working on plans for a smooth supply and transportation of coal, Tej said.
As per official data, total coal production rose 5.88 per cent to 830.66 MT in the April-January period compared to 784.51 MT in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal year.
The cumulative coal dispatch till January 2025 has risen to 843.75 MT, marking a 5.73 per cent increase from 798.02 MT recorded during in the year-ago period.