Adani Enterprises shares rose 0.8% and reached the new 52 weeks high at Rs 2,060.80 on the BSE in Monday’s intraday session after the Andhra Pradesh government cancelled bids made for two separate tenders by the company to supply imported coal as the prices quoted were too high, according to Reuters.

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This is the first time in recent years that a large government tender for imported coal has been cancelled due to high pricing. There have been no previous reports about the cancellation.

To solve a domestic deficit, India has requested utilities to increase coal imports. However, high import costs might exacerbate the financial troubles of state government-owned, indebted power distributors, which owe almost $15 billion to power generators.

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Adani, India’s largest coal trader, proposed last month to supply 500,000 tonnes of South African coal for 40,000 rupees ($526.50) per tonne, with another 750,000 tonnes available in January at 17,480 rupees ($230.08), reported Reuters.

Standard South African coal prices began to soar in January, reaching a monthly high of $176.50 per tonne in response to an export embargo imposed by Indonesia, before reaching a record $441.65 per tonne in March as a result of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

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According to Reuters, both tenders were cancelled because the prices offered were too high. Adani was the sole bidder for the 500,000 tonnes procurement, while Agarwal Coal, which also competed for the 750,000 tonnes tender, had given a higher price than Adani.

Despite record output by the state-run near-monopoly Coal India Ltd, India experienced two of its worst power shortages in recent years in October and March, despite growing power demand.

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The present power shortage, according to B Sreedhar, managing director of Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corp Ltd, is not as severe as the one in October, but the state is living a “hand-to-mouth existence.”