The Union coal ministry said on Tuesday that it has amended the Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, to allow open market sale of up to 50About 63% of the country’s coal-based power capacity have fuel stock at ‘critical level’, or enough to last less than 7 days to be precise, causing the government and coal producers, including state-run Coal India (CIL) and captive producers with freedom to sell in the open market, to take steps on a war footing to avoid serious power outages that could impede the incipient economic recovery.

Coal-fired power stations, which produce over 70% of the electricity consumed in the country. had an average of four days’ fuel stock at September -end, down from 13 days at the start of August. As on October 3, around 132 giga (MW) of power generation capacity had fuel stocks at critical levels.% coal produced from captive mines against additional payment to state governments.