In view of rising production of the dry fuel, India plans to completely stop thermal coal imports in 2-3 years that would result in annual savings of Rs 40,000 crore, according to the Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal. Coking coal, however, would need to be imported, the minister, adding that his Ministry was ready to tie up with Indian shipping companies for this purpose.
Record coal production by Coal India Limited helped India reduce its import bill of the dry fuel by more than Rs 28,000 crore in the last fiscal.
?Indian companies used to import a lot of thermal coal. We want to completely stop the import in the next two to three years,? said Goyal.