Coal India Ltd (CIL) supplies to the power sector grew by 15.4 per cent during the first quarter of the current fiscal, backed by a 15 per cent growth in rake loading, an official said on Monday.

Of the overall coal supplies of the company during the April-June period, dispatch to the power sector accounted for 80 per cent.

“In a major boost to the demand-driven power plants, CIL improved its supplies to power sector with a growth of 15.4 per cent during Q1, backed by a healthy 15 per cent growth in rake loading,” an official said.

According to him, concerted efforts by the company to “swell up coal stocks at thermal power plants paid a dividend” as coal supplies to power stations of the country at 122.84 million tonnes (mt) during April-June increased by 16.38 mt in absolute terms against the comparable period.

The number of power stations having a critical stock situation has come down from 30 at the beginning of the fiscal to 16 as of June ending, according to the miner.

“Our aim is to shore up coal stocks at thermal power plants to the normative stock of 22 days requirement and see that the coal fired power plants do not suffer for want of coal. We are pushing more coal into the system to the extent possible.

“Of the overall coal supplies of the company during Q1 supplies to power sector accounted for 80 per cent. We have also requested the TPPs to perk up their coal stocks.” said the official.

The Maharatna coal mining behemoth, produced 136.87 mt of coal during April-June 2018, an increase of a whopping 18.03 mt, compared to 118.84 mt produced during the same quarter in 2017 registering a growth of 15.2 per cent.

Spurred by higher rake loading overall coal off-take zoomed up to 153.43 mt at the end of Q1, up by 16.01 mt, on a comparable quarter basis translating into a growth of 11.7 per cent.

“Clearly the focus is on higher coal output and increased supplies”, said a senior official of the company, adding that “there has been a consistent growth both in coal production and supplies to consumers during all the three months of the first quarter”.

Merry-Go-Round (MGR) dispatches which primarily serve NTPC plants registered a growth of 12 per cent during the first quarter.

With the enhanced supplies through MGR mode the Uttar Pradesh-based plants Vindhyachal, Rihand and Shakti Nagar have built up comfortable stocks.

The Ministry of Coal, Ministry of Railways and CIL working together for enhanced result paved way for the company, loading 217.04 rakes per day on average to the power sector, during April-June against 189.9 rakes same period in 2017, marking an increase of 28.14 rakes per day. The growth was 14.9 per cent.

Overall rake loading at 238.8 rakes per day during the first quarter of the current fiscal recorded a growth of 9.1 per cent against 218.9 rakes in the same quarter last fiscal.

For June only, coal production and off-take clocked growth of 13.1 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively.

The company as a whole produced 44.88 mt in June, reflecting an increase of 5.20 mt in absolute terms compared to 39.68 mt produced in the same month 2017.

Off-take at 49.59 mt during June was up by 3.77 mt compared to the year-ago month when coal off-take was 45.83mt.

During the first three months of the current fiscal, the company liquidated 16.56 mt of its pit head coal stock to 38.99 mt at the end of the quarter and stock was 55.55 mt at the beginning of the fiscal.