India's coal import in the first quarter of this fiscal declined by 8 per cent to 52.74 million tonnes (MT) over 57.38 MT in the year-ago period.

"As per the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S) during April-June 2017-18, 52.74 MT (provisional) of coal was imported as compared to 57.38 MT in the corresponding period of 2016-17, showing a decline of 8.1 per cent," Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Coal import, he said, has fallen from 217.78 million tonnes in 2014-15 to 203.95 MT in 2015-16 and further to 190.95 MT in 2016-17.

The trend of fall in import has continued in 2017-18, he added.

The fall in imports is largely on account of enhanced production by Coal India (CIL), due to which the country has moved from a regime of scarcity to a coal surplus situation.

The vendible stock of CIL has increased from 53.62 MT as on April 1, 2015 to 61.92 MT as on April 1, 2017.

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