India has faced several large-scale power outages due to low coal inventories. (Representational)
New Delhi: To meet increased power demand, India today allowed power producers to expedite imports of coal, allowing up to 10 percent of imported coal to be blended with the domestic grade, in a move that could push up already high global prices.
Asia's third-largest economy is facing large-scale outages as several power plants have low coal inventories amid a sharp spike in global energy prices. So far power plants that use local coal import little.
The note said supply from state-run Coal India Ltd is not commensurate with the surge in electricity consumption, leading to a change in government policy on coal imports.
India's power demand has been rising with the revival of the economy after the lifting of COVID 19-induced restrictions.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)