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As the world is struggling with a broken supply chain, the troubles started to emerge right in our home in India. Coal-based power plants that generate 53% of electricity in India are staring at an alarming stockpile of coal.

Global commodities inflation, rising demands for power in India, longer than expected monsoon has banded together to make the matter worse. 

Let me provide you with these 7 points, which will draw your attention to this probable scarcity of electricity:-

1. After fuel shortage in the United Kingdom, power shortage in China, and Money shortage in the United States. it is finally India's time to share the pain of a broken global supply chain. When the economy of India was finally recovering from the devastating blow of the pandemic, a looming new threat may seriously impact the recovery. 

2. According to reports released by the Ministry of Power, the coal-based power plants in India are staring at an alarming shortage of fuel. out of India's 135 coal-based power plants, 72 have less than three days worth of coal in their stock. another 50 power plants have enough coal to meet the power generation for 4 to 10 days. Only 13 plants have coal stock that can last for more than 10 days. 

3. With the decreasing cases of Covid, the Indian economy is opening up gradually. with the economy recovering, industrial activity is also surging, so is the power demand. Three Indian states, Maharastra, Gujrat, and Tamil Nadu consume around 33% of electricity produced in India. During August and September, these 3 states witnessed the electricity demand go up by 19% to 21%. 

4. The total installed power generation capacity of India is around 383 GW. Out of these, 53% of power comes from coal-based power plants.  With reserve stocks at an alarmingly low level, we are looking at a very real mega power shortage in India. 

5. The world is witnessing a never seen before shortage in almost all commodities. The prices of coal in global markets have gone up by more than 40%. Nations like China are buying coal very aggressively. During the same time, the impact of coal on India has gone down by 30%. It is worth mentioning that India is the 2 Largest Importer of Coal in the world after China. 

6. Due to the higher price of coal in the international markets, Indian power companies have turned to domestic coal producers, 80% of coal production in India is controlled by Government-owned inefficient coal India, Due to the longer than expected monsoon in the coal mining regions, the mining of coal and supply was impacted. This further led to a shortage of domestic coal supply in India.  

7. While countries around the world are competing to buy coal at a higher price, state-owned coal in India has not increased the price of coal due to a lack of political will. If necessary steps are not taken urgently. India may have to suffer massive power cuts and the Industrial Output will take a beating. 

Now, it's all on the Government and its policies, how we as a developing country with recovering GDP tackle this problem.