evidence: To meet the rising demand from power and industry, the country relied on expensive coal imports, with a 20% increase in non-coking coal imports (by volume) in FY 2023—the highest growth since FY 2015. As a result, the coal import bill reached INR 3.8 lakh crore (USD 47 billion) in FY 2023, an increase of 68% over FY 2022. To reduce costs to electricity providers and steelmakers, India fully exempted imported coal from custom duty for a short duration between June 2022 and November 2022, leading to high support levels. Our estimates show this measure alone led to foregone revenue of INR 10,000 crore (USD 1.2 billion) in FY 2023. Official estimates were not publicly available. Further, the Ministry of Power has mandated that imported coal-based power plants operate at full capacity till June 2024 and directed all thermal power plants to import a minimum of 6% of their fuel requirement for blending till March 2024. It is also planning 80 GW of new thermal capacity addition by 2031–2032 to meet the rising power demand in the country.