Coal India Ltd (CIL) has denied a shortfall in coal supplies to NTPC Ltd, saying it delivered more than its contractual commitment during the first half of FY27 even as coal stocks at several of NTPC’s power plants fell to critically low levels.
CIL said it supplied 97 million tonnes of coal to NTPC and its joint ventures between April and September, around 5 per cent higher than in the corresponding period last year and 1 per cent above the level recorded during the same period of FY25. The company made the statement in response to Business Standard.
The response follows comments by a senior NTPC executive that most of the company’s power plants had coal stocks sufficient for only about a week. Business Standard had reported that NTPC’s coal stocks declined to 5.2 million tonnes from 18.7 million tonnes in April, leaving most plants with around seven days of stock cover.
“CIL has been supplying coal above its commitment to NTPC under the Fuel Supply Agreements during FY27, and there has been no shortfall in supplies from CIL’s side,” the miner said. It added that it was also supplying coal to NTPC under bridge linkage arrangements.
The figures point to a distinction between coal dispatched by the miner and fuel available at individual power stations. NTPC operates 50 power plants across the country and is the largest buyer of CIL’s coal. The company is also diversifying its sourcing beyond CIL by purchasing coal from commercial and captive miners.
CIL said its total coal dispatches to the power sector reached 302.8 million tonnes during the first half of FY27, the highest first-half figure recorded by the company and 6 per cent higher than in the corresponding period last year. It began the financial year with an opening inventory of 130 million tonnes on April 1 and liquidated approximately 63 million tonnes during the first six months while continuing supplies to power plants and other consumers.
CIL’s pithead stocks stood at 67 million tonnes on October 1, compared with 78.7 million tonnes a year earlier. Pithead inventory measures coal held near mines, while plant-level availability also depends on movement from loading points to generating stations and the timing of deliveries.
The miner also rejected concerns that inventory drawdown had affected coal quality. It said third-party sampling during FY27 showed a difference of about 67 kilocalories per kilogram between the weighted average declared gross calorific value and the analysed value, within the 300-kilocalorie-per-kilogram grade band. Gross calorific value measures the heat released when coal is burned.
CIL said specific coal consumption remained broadly stable at 0.69 kilograms per kilowatt-hour during the first half of FY27. The figure was 0.69 kilograms per kilowatt-hour in FY26 and 0.68 kilograms per kilowatt-hour in FY23. The company linked the stable consumption level to domestic coal performance as imported coal blending declined from 35.1 million tonnes in FY23 to 6.8 million tonnes in FY26 and about 1.2 million tonnes in the first half of FY27.
Consumers can engage any of 11 independent third-party sampling agencies empanelled by the Power Finance Corporation to assess coal quality at CIL’s loading ends. For variations identified at the mine end, the Fuel Supply Agreement provides for a compensation mechanism, the company said.
