Sufficient stock to meet summer demand: Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy

210 mt of coal likely from commercial mines in FY26

With a built-up coal stock of 50 million tonnes (MT) at thermal power plants, India is prepared to meet power demand in summer, said Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday, adding that coal demand for the next financial year is expected to be 906 million tonnes (MT).

 

“To have a comfortable summer, at least 50 MT of stock is required for thermal power plants. We will have adequate stocks to meet requirements in the summer months. On January 24, they had already crossed the figure (47 MT). As of today, we have more than 49 MT of coal at thermal power plants. With a contingency plan, we are well prepared for the summer ahead,” the minister told reporters.

 

This assumes significance as India’s power demand peaked at an all-time high of about 250 GW last May when the country, especially northern, eastern, and central India, reeled under scorching heat.

 

According to recent projections from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India's peak power demand in FY26 is expected to reach 270 GW.

 

“For the 2025-26 financial year, the power ministry has communicated that the demand for us is 906 MT. We will accordingly distribute it among our three major coal-producing sources—Coal India Ltd, captive and commercial mines, and Singareni Collieries Company Limited. This is as far as the power demand is concerned,” the minister added.

 

From the projected coal production, around 210 MT is expected to come from commercial mines in FY26.

 

As of January, the coal ministry had allotted 184 mines, with 65 blocks receiving mine opening permissions. Total production from these blocks has reached 136.59 MT, registering a 34.20 per cent year-on-year increase, and is expected to exceed the 170 MT target in FY25.

 

Vikram Dev Dutt, secretary, ministry of coal, said that the government is planning to set up a coal logistics dashboard, which will be a single-point, end-to-end platform for tracking coal production and movement to all end users. It will help the government incorporate decision-making and intervention features, he said.

 

When asked whether the government will rationalise coal production if power demand growth is less than the anticipated 1.08 billion tonnes (BT) for FY25 and 1.19 BT for FY26, a senior official from the ministry replied, “There will be no change in our production target for 2025-26 precisely because, other than power, we cater to the industrial sector. We have two major sectors to which we supply coal—power and the non-regulated sector. This coal will be supplied to the non-regulated sector, like cement and steel. It has increased to 16.64 per cent, which can go higher because the demand for coal is there.”

 

“We are also moving a step towards diversification of our own. Instead of producing coal and supplying power, the focus is to rationalise the transportation of coal. So, there is no point in carrying coal from one end of the country to the other. The focus is on how best our pithead power plants can come up. In that connection, Coal India is planning to set up two pithead power plants in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh. We are already in the process of going ahead with it. The Odisha one is in an advanced stage, and the Madhya Pradesh one will come soon. The third one is our Kala Villa power plant in Odisha. That power plant is also a pithead power plant. Once we have a pithead power plant in place, the question of transportation will be rationalised to a large extent,” the official said.