Coal India chairperson Ms Zohra Chatterji on Friday described “imports” as a theoretical option for CIL to meet the domestic supply shortfall. The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) recently stressed that CIL may import coal as one of the options to meet its FSA (fuel supply agreement) commitments, if any.
Stating that CIL could not take such import bids forward in the past in the absence of firm demand from power companies, she said that the company has “not even seriously considered imports”. An additional secretary with the coal ministry, Ms Chatterji was addressing her first media conference in the city after she was given additional charge as CMD of CIL since February 1.
Responding to queries on entering into 20-year fuel supply contracts with a trigger level of 80 per cent (indicating supplies less than 80 per cent of committed quantity would invite penalty) and the resulting financial risk of CIL, Ms Chatterji said: “Let us not speculate as directives from the coal ministry have yet to come.”
According to Ms Chatterji , the company had agreed to a lower trigger level of 50 per cent in the past due to non-availability of coal.