The Times of India said orders had been placed and the coal would be used to assist two major thermal power stations in north Karnataka.

“Though we cannot run our thermal plants purely on imported coal, we have decided to blend imported and domestic coal (20:80 ratio)," Karnataka Power Corporation managing director Yogendra Tripathi told the news service.

The Times of India reported Energy Minister Shobha Karandlaje saying the government would seek to import coal from Indonesia and Australia as the coal shortage worsened.

The move comes after the country experienced days of power shortages, stemming from a lack of coal supply and severe heavy rain in the east of India.

According to news service The Hindu, the northern and eastern regions of India have been hit the hardest by the power shortages.

The Hindu said power distribution companies had been load shedding and cutting power as a way to cope with the lack of coal at the power plants.

At one point, grid levels reportedly dropped below 49.5 hertz.

Generator National Thermal Power Corporation told the news service its power stations were running low on electricity.

“NTPC power stations at Dadri in the Delhi region, Singrauli and Unchahar in the north, Vindhyachal in Madhya Pradesh, Farakka and Kahalgaon in the east and Ramagundam and Simhadri in the south are affected due to coal shortage,” it added.

NTPC is the largest power generating company in India, owning over ten coal based power stations throughout the country.

In response to the situation, India’s coal minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal said he would try to make more coal available to NTPC through e-auction, in which the coal is sold at market price.