Public sector power major, NTPC, proposes to import 16 million tonnes (mt) of coal this fiscal up from 12 mt last fiscal to meet its requirements.
According to industry trackers, 16 mt of imported coal is equivalent to approximately 25 mt of domestic coal, as the quality is superior.
According to NTPC officials, despite the estimated increase in imports, the company is still within its blending requirement of 10 per cent. NTPC uses up to 10 per cent of imported coal to be blended with domestic fuel.
An official told
Last month, NTPC issued tenders for procuring 2.9 mt of imported coal for 10 power stations through the international bidding process. The power plants for which the company had issued the tenders include Farakka and Kahalgaon, Simhadri and Ramagundam, Dadri, Rihand, Singrauli, Tanda, Unchahar, and Vindhyachal.
Earlier this year, NTPC had awarded a tender for import of 4 mt to the Adani Group. Recently, the company scrapped its tender for 5 mt coal imports, as it had received higher than the required bids.
As regards the fuel supply agreement with Coal India for 4,300 MW, NTPC was still procuring through the old memorandum of understanding mechanism and also paying the price according to the old (UCV) mechanism.
“They are yet to pay according to new mechanism,” said Mr Rakesh Sinha, Chairman and Managing Director of Eastern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd.
In the last 18 months, NTPC has added capacity of 4,820 MW. The total capacity addition of 9,610 MW in the 11{+t}{+h} Plan by the company has surpassed the target of 9,220 MW. It has set a capital expenditure target of Rs 20,995 crore in fiscal 2013 against Rs 17,400 crore in fiscal 2012.