India allows power plants to blend imported coal with local grade

India on Tuesday allowed power producers to expedite imports of coal to use for up to 10% of blends with the domestic grade to meet increased power demand in a move that could push up already high global prices.

Asia's third-largest economy is facing large-scale outages as several power plants have low coal inventories amid a sharp spike in global energy prices.

So far power plants that use local coal import little.

The note said supply from state-run Coal India Ltd is not commensurate with the surge in electricity consumption, leading to a change in government policy on coal imports.