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India imported 199.9 million mt of coal in the 2015-16 fiscal year (April-March), down 8% on the year, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said Monday.

Imports fell and no power generation unit was in critical or supercritical condition (power plants with less than seven days of stocks) for want of coal during the fiscal year because state-run Coal India Limited raised its output, Goyal told parliament in a written reply to a question.

CIL planned to produce more coal this fiscal year and had set a target of 598.61 million mt, which is 11.11% higher than 2015-16's production of 538.75 million mt, the minister said.

He added that as of July 19, coal stocks at the country's 101 power plants were 31.39 million mt, enough to operate the plants for 23 days compared with the standard requirement of 21.

He added that these power plants received coal on a daily basis and consumed it based on their daily requirements for their generation schedule, which meant coal was not being stored for a long time.