New Delhi, Aug. 15 -- India's coal import basket is becoming increasingly steel-centric, with imports of metallurgical coal rising sharply in FY2025-26 even as dependence on imported thermal coal declined, according to an MCX report.

India imported around 244.2 million tonnes of non-coking and metallurgical coal in FY2025-26, broadly unchanged from about 245.3 million tonnes in the previous financial year. However, the relatively stable headline import figure masked a significant shift in the composition of imports.

Coking coal imports increased 12.4 per cent year-on-year to 63.7 million tonnes from 56.6 million tonnes, while pulverised coal injection, or PCI, imports rose 6.2 per cent to 20.9 million tonnes from 19.6 million tonnes.

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