Coal India denies supply shortfall to NTPC despite critical coal stocks | Company News

Coal India Ltd (CIL) has said it met and exceeded its contractual coal supply commitments to NTPC Ltd, even as the country’s largest power producer faced critically low coal stocks at several plants, bringing into focus the gap between CIL’s reported deliveries and fuel availability at power stations.

 

CIL supplied 97 million tonnes (MT) of coal to NTPC and its joint ventures during April-September of FY27, around 5 per cent higher than in the corresponding period last year and around 1 per cent above the level in the same period of FY25, the company said in an exclusive response to Business Standard.

  

The response comes days after a senior executive said most of NTPC’s power plants had coal available for just about a week, citing issues with supplies from CIL. Business Standard reported that NTPC’s coal stocks had fallen to 5.2 MT from 18.7 MT in April, leaving most of its plants with stocks sufficient for around seven days.

 

NTPC operates 50 power plants across the country and has been diversifying its coal sourcing beyond CIL, its largest coal supplier.

 

NTPC, which operates 50 power plants across the country, has resorted to buying coal from commercial and captive miners beyond what is supplied by CIL to meet its requirements. NTPC is the largest buyer of coal from CIL in the country.

 

“CIL has been supplying coal above its commitment to NTPC under the Fuel Supply Agreements (FSAs) during FY 2026-27, and there has been no shortfall in supplies from CIL’s side,” CIL said, adding that the company is also supplying coal to NTPC under bridge linkage.

 

CIL said its overall dispatches to the power sector during April-September reached 302.8 MT, the highest for any first half, an increase of around 6 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

 

The company said it began FY27 with a record opening inventory of around 130 MT on April 1 and liquidated approximately 63 MT during the first half while continuing to supply power plants and other consumers. Its pithead stocks stood at around 67 MT on October 1, compared with 78.7 MT a year earlier.

 

On concerns over coal quality during the stock drawdown, CIL said there had been no change in the grade or quality profile of coal supplied to power plants.

 

According to results from third-party sampling agencies during FY 2026-27, the difference between the weighted average declared gross calorific value (GCV) and analysed GCV of coal was around 67 kilocalories per kg (kcal/kg), well within the 300 kcal/kg grade band, “indicating no change in the grade/quality profile of coal supplied to power plants due to stock liquidation,” CIL said.

 

GCV measures the heat energy released when coal is burned.

 

CIL also said specific coal consumption (SCC) — the amount of coal used to generate a unit of electricity — remained broadly stable at around 0.69 kg per kilowatt-hour in the first half of FY27, compared with 0.68 kg in FY23 and 0.69 kg in FY26.

 

CIL said this was despite imported coal blending declining from 35.1 million tonnes in FY23 to 6.8 MT in FY26, with a further reduction to around 1.2 MT in H1FY27. Coal blending is a process of mixing two or more types of coal to achieve a specific grade of coal in thermal power plants.

 

“The comparable SCC despite substantially lower imported coal blending indicates an improvement in the quality of domestic coal,” CIL said.

 

To verify coal quality, consumers can engage any of the 11 independent third-party sampling agencies empanelled by Power Finance Corporation to assess the quality of coal supplies at CIL’s loading ends, the company said.

 

CIL said that for any variation in quality at the mine end, the FSA provides for an established compensation mechanism.