Despite having large reserves of coal, why does India import millions of tonnes of coal?
- It is the policy of India to save its own coal reserves for the future, and import it from other countries for the present use.
- Most of the power plants in India are coal-based and they are not able to get sufficient supplies of coal from within the country.
- Steel companies need a large quantity of coking coal which has to be imported.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Detailed Explanation:
❌ Statement 1 – Incorrect: India has no policy of deliberate conservation of domestic coal for future use; imports are driven by supply-demand gaps and quality constraints, not strategic stockpiling.
✅ Statement 2 – Correct: Coal-based thermal power plants face shortages due to inadequate domestic production, logistical bottlenecks (rail transport constraints), and quality mismatch between available and required coal grades.
✅ Statement 3 – Correct: India's steel industry requires high-grade coking coal (metallurgical coal) for blast furnaces; domestic reserves of prime coking coal are negligible, necessitating imports primarily from Australia, USA, and Indonesia.
Question 4 of 4 Energy Sector
Practice PYQ questions from this topic across all years
Which one of the following is a purpose of ‘UDAY’, a scheme of the Govern...
All questions in this topic completed!