The Indian government’s latest decision to penalize power plants for not importing coal is a stark contrast to the stance it took a couple of years ago, when it was brewing an ambition to axe coal imports by financial year 2023-24 (April-March). In the wake of a heat wave that has depleted India’s coal reserves, the government asked power plants on April 28 to use 10% imported coal for their power generation requirements. The federal power ministry followed through with another notice on May 18, saying domestic coal allocations to power companies will be reduced from July if they do not start using 10% imported coal by June 15. Moreover, power plants that do not place orders to import coal by May 31 will have to import around 15% of their fuel requirements until Oct. 31, the ministry said. Flashback to February 2020, the government had issued a statement […]