<div>India's coal imports fell 11 percent to 19.3 million tonnes in July from a year earlier - the sharpest and the first drop in more than a year - as local supplies rose and money losing power generators held up purchases, commodities trader mjunction said.</div><div> </div><div>Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been credited with the turnaround in output by state-run Coal India, but he is now grappling with power distributors that are so deep in debt that they can't pay to buy power from generators.</div><div> </div><div>Power generators, as a result, are operating both below their capacity and last year's levels.</div><div> </div><div>"The demand for electricity from distribution companies is not growing the way it was projected to grow," mjunction Chief Executive and Managing Director Viresh Oberoi said in an email.</div><div> </div><div>"The poor financials (of distribution companies) that reduced their purchasing capacity is also one of the reasons for lower-than-expected electricity generation."</div><div> </div><div>India, the world's third largest buyer of foreign coal, imported 20 percent less of thermal coal used in power generation in July from a year ago, according to provisional data from mjunction.</div><div> </div><div>The last fall in total coal imports was in April 2015.</div><div> </div><div>Oberoi expects thermal coal imports to fall further, a prediction likely to cheer Coal Secretary Anil Swarup, who told Reuters late in July imports will come down "dramatically" in the next two to three months.</div><div> </div><div>Coal and power minister Piyush Goyal forecast imports will slide 3 percent in the year to next April, to 210 million tonnes, but government officials said actual purchases could be much lower.</div><div> </div><div>Government data on coal imports generally lags and varies from data from private firms such as mjunction, which collects information from more ports and includes additional coal grades.</div><div> </div><div>(Reuters)</div>
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