Adani Group’s flagship firm began the 2022 financial year in a slump but ended it with a 200% jump in profits. Over 70% of the annual turnover of the firm, Adani Enterprises Limited, came from its coal import division.
“The business witnessed an astronomical rise in the volumes pertaining to the supplies made to various state or central owned electricity generation companies,” the firm said in its annual report for 2022-’23.
In May 2022, citing domestic coal shortages, India’s power ministry had directed all thermal power producing companies in the country to mandatorily import 10% of their coal needs.
The import mandate coincided with a surge in international coal prices. Between April 2022 and January 2023, international coal prices were 131% higher than the corresponding period in the previous year, according to a report commissioned by the 16th Finance Commission of India, a constitutional body tasked with distributing public funds between states.
Scroll has obtained internal government correspondence on the coal import mandate using Right to Information requests. The documents, previously unreported, reveal that the mandate faced resistance from both state-owned and privately-owned power companies.
State governments like Uttar Pradesh and Telangana said costly coal imports would cripple their finances, while several private power producers cited technical reasons to avoid...