India exports 8 lakh tonnes of coal to neighbouring countries in FY'21

In the fiscal year that ended in March 2021, India shipped 8 lakh tonnes of coal to its neighbours, including Nepal.

According to the Coal Ministry's Provisional Coal Statistics 2020-21, the maximum 77.20% was sold to Nepal, followed by 13.04% to Bangladesh.

"Although India's coal supply was in limited supply compared to demand, and it had to purchase coal," it claimed, "India exported some coal to its neighbouring countries during the year 2020-21."

Coal was primarily exported to Nepal, with 0.618 million tonnes (MT), and Bangladesh, with 0.104 MT, according to the report.

"We have not been able to meet our demand from our own output, despite having significant coal reserves. Furthermore, the country's supply of high-quality coal (low-ash coal) is limited." It was also added.

As a result, the country has no choice but to import coal, particularly low-ash coal, to bridge the demand and supply gap and deliver high quality coal for usage in diverse sectors, it said.

In FY'21, import of raw coal of the country was 214.995 MT valued at Rs. 1,16,037.2 crore (US$ 15.62 billion) against import of 248.537 MT valued at Rs. 1,52,732.1 crore (US$ 20.57 billion) in 2019-20.

"As a result, coal imports declined by 13.50% in 2020-21 compared to the previous year," it said.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.