Coal supplies to Indian power plants hit record 2.6 million tonnes a day
Key Facts
Daily coal supplies to power plants in India reached a record 2.6 million tonnes, Reuters quoted a senior power ministry official as saying, as plants face falling inventories and rising demand. The official described supplies at the time of the statement as "a record level of 2.6 million tonnes", with fuel deliveries to generating plants being stepped up. The coal ministry said in a separate update that daily supplies to the power sector averaged about 2.49 million tonnes in early October 2026 up to the date of its update. The ministry compared that average with supplies of 2.21 million tonnes a day during September 2026. The increase in supplies included plants operated by NTPC, after scattered rain in mining areas disrupted deliveries, according to Moneycontrol.
The supply boost coincided with an increase in the number of power plants with critically low coal stocks to 96 on October 19, according to Reuters. The list included 60 plants in mid-September, before the number facing such conditions increased in the subsequent period. Stocks at plants in this category cover less than 3 days, according to the inventory figures reported by the agency. Across Indian power plants as a whole, coal stocks fell about 5% from the start of October to the time of the Reuters report. The coal ministry said in a clarification that placing a plant on the critical-stock list represents an "early warning" and does not in itself mean it has run out of coal or faces an imminent risk of shutting down.
On the consumption side, daily peak electricity demand rose by about 45 to 50 gigawatts from a year earlier, according to Moneycontrol. The website attributed the increase in capacity required at peak times to higher temperatures and increased industrial production. Growing irrigation needs are also driving demand, according to the Reuters report on India's power pressures. The report linked higher temperatures to El Nino, which also affects rainfall. The power ministry official said lower hydropower generation, as rainfall is affected by the phenomenon, is adding pressure on coal-fired generating units.
In Gujarat, the state asked factories to voluntarily shift production away from evening peak hours to avoid power shortages, according to Reuters. The request focuses on the timing of industrial activity, moving production outside the period when pressure on supplies intensifies in the evening. India faces difficulty meeting demand during those hours because it lacks sufficient batteries to store clean electricity generated during the day, according to the agency. Meanwhile, the power ministry official said the ministry had allocated additional electricity supplies to Gujarat. The official said there was "no shortage of electricity or coal" in the state, a government assessment that came alongside its request for factories to adjust production schedules.
The October pressures were preceded by a widening gap between electricity demand and supply to 560 million kilowatt-hours in September, according to government data cited by Reuters. That was the largest shortfall recorded since August 2023, according to the comparison in the agency's report. For historical comparison, the coal ministry said fuel stocks at power plants stood at about 54.05 million tonnes on March 9, 2026. Those volumes were sufficient for about 24 days at the consumption rate prevailing at the time, according to the ministry's official statement. In industrial activity, which was cited among the drivers of rising electricity demand, Indian industrial production grew 8.0% year on year in August 2026, according to India's statistics ministry.
The power ministry official expected coal supplies to generating plants to "return to normal soon", according to Reuters. Over the longer term, Gujarat plans new projects to meet future electricity demand, according to the agency. The plans include coal-fired and nuclear power projects, alongside battery storage. In the next economic release, India's statistics ministry will publish the industrial production index for September 2026 on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, according to its statement published through the government's press information bureau. The release will include the year-on-year industrial production growth rate for that month, following the August reading.