India asks authorities to import 4% coal until March 2024

India ordered power plants to import four percent of their coal requirement until March 2024 to avoid outages, extending an earlier direction to buy from overseas until the end of this month.

The decision comes amid surging electricity demand, partly amid surging electricity demand, partly a result of deficient rainfall that’s forcing farmers to run irrigation pumps to water their fields, said power secretary Pankaj Agarwal in an interview.

The country has witnessed the driest August in a century, getting 36 percent less rain than it usually does in the month. It also touched the peak power shortage of 10.7 GW on Thursday.