The Centre’s steps to regulate coal supplies to non-power sectors may have helped tide over the immediate threat of a major power crisis, but coal scarcity remains a looming risk for corporate India and domestic consumers, rating agency Crisil said in a report.
“The threat still looms when power demand picks up from here… Coal stocks are unlikely to improve to the previous level of 15-18 days’ inventory anytime soon. Also, availability of rakes and a pickup in power demand in March-May will be the key monitorables from here,” it noted, emphasising that a build-up in coal inventories by February 2022 is critical to avert outages in the coming summer.
Crisil noted that power demand had surged almost 20% in industrial States such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat in the first half of FY22, even as dependence on coal-based power has grown. Coal stocks are at most critical levels in Bihar, followed by Karnataka, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the rating agency said.
“Coal-based power generation rose 19.1%, while [that] from other conventional sources saw a 15.5% on-year decline,” it pointed out.