State-run thermal power plants in India’s coastal states have again begun buying overseas coal due to domestic coal shortages, government and utility officials said, in a setback for the country’s long-term plans to eliminate imports. FILE PHOTO: A worker carries a basket filled with coal to load it onto a truck at a coal yard in an industrial area in Mumbai, India, November 30, 2017. REUTERS/Shailesh Andrade/File photo After no significant imports in 2017, government utilities in the states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh have ordered several cargoes of coal since the beginning of this year, two officials said. Andhra Pradesh, a state on India’s east coast, has imported 200,000 tonnes of coal so far this year and could import as much as 1 million tonnes in 2018, said Ajay Jain, a senior official in the state energy department. “Coal has been a real […]