Coal-fired power plants in India have considerably reduced the volume of imported coal used for blending purposes, with shipments slumping 71.5% in three years, Minister of State, Coal and Mines Satish Chandra Dubey informed the Rajya Sabha on August 10.

Coal imports for blending fell from 23.9 million tonnes in FY2023-24 to 6.8 million tonnes in FY2025-26, Dubey said. The downward trend has carried into FY2026-27 (April 2026-March 2027), with just 1.7 million tonnes imported in the first quarter (April-June 2026) of the current fiscal year. This indicates a continued reduction in dependence on imported coal for blending.

Dubey explained that the imports consist primarily of coking coal destined for the steel industry, along with high-grade thermal coal whose domestic availability remains constrained by limited reserves or non-availability.

The minister was responding to a query from Rakya Sabha member Niranjan Reddy, who asked why domestic coal-fired power plants still rely on imports when India has sufficient domestic coal production and Coal India Ltd held a stockpile of 122.46 million tonnes as of March 12, 2026.

Apart from this, Dubey said, imports persist in specific instances, including for imported coal-based power plants that are engineered to run on imported coal, and for blending at domestic coal-based plants where technical or operational needs make it necessary.

Coal blending at thermal power plants involves mixing different coal grades, such as combing low-cost, low-grade material with higher-quality, more expensive coal, to improve fuel efficiency and curtail overall costs.

The minister further added that coal imports are permitted under the Open General License policy, which allows power plants to source coal based on technical and operational requirements.

The Indian government has taken a series of measure aimed at boosting coking coal supply to the steel sector and cutting imports. These include the launch of Coking Coal Mission and the introduction of coal linkages for washeries under the newly established CoalSETU window under the Non-Regulated Sector linkage auctions.