With increase in domestic production of coal, India has achieved significant reduction in import despite surge in power demand, the government said on Tuesday (8 March).

Imports of all grades of non coking coal has come down to 117.507 Million Tonne (MT) during April-December 2021 from 147.85 MT during the corresponding months of FY 20, leading to a decline of about 20.52 per cent, the Coal Ministry said in a release.

The import of non coking coal, primarily used in power sector has decreased by 59.2 per cent from 52.49 MT to 21.41 MT upto December 2021 in comparison to the same period in FY20.

"The overall import of coal has also reduced to 160.84 MT in the period April to December 2021 as compared to 186.65 MT during the corresponding period of FY 20, indicating a decrease of about 13.82 per cent which has resulted in significant savings of forex reserves this year especially when the coal prices are at a high level in the international market," the ministry said.

It added that all efforts are on to further enhance domestic coal production as availability of additional coal will aid in import-substitution of coal.

The ministry further said that the domestic coal based power generation upto December 2021 is 727.39 BU (Billion Units) with an increase of 12.10 per cent over generation of 648.843 BU during the corresponding period of FY20.

Imported coal based power generation which was 69.56 BU during April to Dec 2019 has reduced by 53.10 per cent to 32.62 BU during corresponding months of current FY22.

The financial year 2020-21 is not being taken for comparison purpose due to industrial production getting severely affected because of Covid–19 pandemic, the ministry said.