An unprecedented surge in electricity demand may have exposed the weakness in the coal supply chains that feed the nation’s thermal power stations, but a build-up of multiple underlying factors including slipping coal output ended up precipitating the crisis.
Coal production by state-owned Coal India Ltd (CIL), the near monopoly supplier, has seen its output dropping in the three years preceding the pandemic, with total production falling from 607 million tonnes (MT) in FY19 and 602 MT in FY20 and 596 MT in FY21. This fall came on the back of delays in key leadership appointments in CIL and its subsidiaries.
