Indian power utilities imported around 7.8 million mt of thermal coal in April, the first month of fiscal 2015-16, up 8% year on year, according to latest data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) seen by Platts Tuesday.

Of the total, 4.3 million mt of coal were imported by 37 utilities for blending while 3.5 million mt were imported by nine utilities for power plants that use only imported coal. NTPC Ltd imported the largest amount of thermal coal in April at 1.6 million mt, followed by private sector power producer Adani Power at 1.3 million mt.  For the current year, utilities are set to import 115 million mt of thermal coal.

Source:platts.com