The coal ministry on Monday said that the depletion of coal inventories at power plants had slowed in October compared with the previous month, and stocks had remained stable above 18 million tonnes (MT) since 29 September 2026.
While stocks declined from 18.932 MT on 29 September to 18.205 MT on 10 October, the pace of reduction has slowed.
In September 2026, stocks declined by about 7.28 MT over the month, an average of about 0.24 MT per day. However, in the first 10 days of October 2026, they declined by only about 0.56 MT in total, an average of about 0.06 MT per day.
“The stabilisation reflects coal supplies keeping pace with daily consumption at power plants and the supply to the plants with critical stocks is being closely monitored, with requirement-based redistribution of coal to vulnerable stations to ensure adequate supplies and uninterrupted power generation,” the ministry added.
Meanwhile, stock accretion was also recorded on two days, 2 and 10 October, when stocks increased by 0.024 MT and 0.017 MT, respectively.
As of 10 October, actual stocks stood at 20.78 MT, which was just 33 per cent of the required level. Moreover, 87 plants had critically low stocks. This was an improvement from 92 plants as of 4 October, when actual stocks stood at 20.72 MT.
“Rail loading has gone up, and coal supplies have improved, but stocks remain under pressure. Better mining conditions after the monsoon, and coal being sent to plants with critical stocks, have also helped,” Rohit Vijay, associate fellow, CSEP, said.
The ministry also noted that the 10 per cent increase in rake loading to 469 rakes per day in October from 426 rakes per day in September had driven the improvement. Daily rake loading in October ranged between 447 and 482 rakes.
The actual coal supply to the power sector averaged 2.49 MT per day in October, against 2.21 MT per day last month. “The actual coal supply in October 2026 is higher than supply plan of 2.37 MT per day, and supply exceeded the plan on nine of the ten days,” the ministry said.
The position has stabilised, but stocks have not started rebuilding, Vijay said, adding that plants are still using slightly more coal than they receive, and consumption also appears to have gone up.
The national figure also hides differences between plants, he said. “Plants located far from the mines usually hold much less coal than pithead plants and are the first to face shortages,” Vijay said.
The ministry said that it was working closely with Coal India Limited (CIL), SCCL, the Ministry of Railways and power utilities to ensure sustained coal evacuation and supply to thermal power plants.
The increase in supplies has been supported partly by drawing down accumulated pithead inventories. CIL, which accounts for nearly four-fifths of coal supplies to the power sector, liquidated 63 MT of pithead coal stocks during the first half of FY27, the ministry had said last week, indicating that existing inventories were also used to support consumer supplies.
This comes at a time when domestic coal-based power generation rose 10 per cent to 640.05 billion units (BU) in the first half of FY27 from 582.5 BU in the corresponding period last year.
Vijay said, “Stocks now need to build up steadily over the coming months, through higher domestic supply and imports where needed, so that plants are not short of coal when demand rises again next summer.”
