India Also on the Verge of a Power Crunch

In Asia it is not only China which is having problems with its power supply due to coal supply and prices. India also is on the verge of a major power crunch with its supplies of coal beginning to run short. In India coal accounts for 70% of its electricity production. Government data showed that as of Oct. 6, some 80% of India’s 135 coal-powered plants had less than 8 days of supplies left — more than half of those had stocks worth 2 days or fewer. By comparison, over the last four years, the average coal inventory that power plants had was around 18 days worth of supply, according to Hetal Gandhi, director of research at ratings firm CRISIL, a subsidiary of S&P Global.