Dues not a concern but we've to think of financial stability: CIL chairman

Pramod Agrawal says the company has been able to increase their average daily production to 1.45 MTs, during the past week

India’s thermal power stations have been witnessing a coal shortage with the Union government even asking generators to go in for imports. In an interview with Jyoti Mukul, Pramod Agrawal, chairman, Coal India (CIL), says logistics issues due to the rains have impeded loading but daily dispatches will improve to 1.8 million tonnes (mt) in the next few days. Edited excerpts

 

How has Coal India ramped up the supply of coal to thermal power plants in the country over the past week?

 

Our urgency in stepping up supplies to coal-fired plants can be evidenced from the fact that materialisation was 103 per cent over the past week at an average per day supply of 1.35 mt against the requirement of 1.31 mt given by the Central Electricity Authority. In fact, the last three-day average loading to the power sector touched 1.4 mt.

 

How far have logistics issues affected the supply? What is being done to address them?

 

Our loading progress was hamstrung, after the second half of July till mid-August 2021, because transportation was affected due to bad road conditions and acute jams owing to rain and waterlogging. This restricted coal movements to our sidings. Till July 20, our loading was 254 rakes a day, which kept on dropping till August 15 with loading being only 234 rakes a day. With the monsoon on the wane and the advent of a dry spell, we could increase our loading and in the last three days, we stepped up close to 271 rakes a day. We expect this to go further up.

 

Are there payment delays on the part of the generators? If so, which state or Union gencos apart from Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) have paid and which ones still owe you money?

 

There have been payment delays, inordinate in some cases. Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, DVC, NTPC, among others, owe us significant dues. While there is no debt risk, we are concerned about the mounting dues and have to think of the financial stability of our own coal companies.

 

 At what point does CIL stop supply if payment is not made?

 

Ninety days is the limit within which all the payments must be made. But we did not stop supply altogether to any plant.

 

 What is the current daily production at mines? Are there factors impeding production?

 

We have been able to increase our average daily production to 1.45 mt during the past week. Average production in August has never been higher than 1.25 mt a day during the past four years. Even till August 23, our average output per day has been 1.35 mt. Heavy rain, especially in Chhattisgarh and eastern parts of the country, dented our production.

 

 When do you see the situation normalising in terms of supply, especially since power demand in the festival season has begun?

 

With plans to ramp up production and strength evacuation infrastructure, and adequate coal stocks at our pitheads, we are prepared to meet any surge in coal demand from the power sector. Already, our despatches for the past week are holding steady at 1.7 mt per day. Never in any previous month have our despatches exceeded 1.6 mt. With the monsoon receding, we are confident of elevating our despatches in the next few days to 1.8 mt per day. September onwards this will further increase.