Coal imports through India's 12 state-run ports ended a four-month downtrend in September, with both year-on-year and month-on-month growth exceeding 10%, showed the latest data from the Indian Ports Association.

Coal imports increased 14.08% year on year (YoY) and 12.07% month on month (MoM) to 15.59 million tonnes, data showed.

Thermal coal imports at these ports stood at 10.9 million tonnes, gaining 16.38% YoY and 16.96% MoM, while coking coal imports came in at 4.69 million tonnes, up 9.07% YoY and 2.16% MoM.

Paradip port in East India received the most thermal coal among all these ports in September at 4.3 million tonnes, increasing 19.63% YoY and edging up 0.28% MoM.

The port also imported most coking coal in the same month at 1.29 million tonnes, down 2.72% YoY but up 8.33% MoM.

Coal imports at the 12 ports totaled 94.79 million tonnes in April-September 2025, ticking up 0.39% YoY. Of this, thermal coal imports fell 0.82% on the year to 64.30 million tonnes, while coking coal imports grew 3.03% YoY to 30.49 million tonnes.

The total cargo handling volume at the 12 ports reached 438 million tonnes in the six months, up 5.75% from 414 million tonnes a year ago.

India's 12 state-owned ports are Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Ennore, Chennai, V.O. Chidambaranar, Cochin, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), and Kandla.