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.

       India's power demand has been rising with the revival of the economy after the lifting of COVID 19-induced restrictions.

       (Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Jason Neely)

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