India to Allow Foreign Firms Mine and Sell Coal

The Indian government announced that it will begin allowing locally registered foreign coal mining companies to commercially mine and sell coal.

As quoted in the news release:

India will allow locally registered foreign firms to mine and sell coal when commercial mining is permitted as part of the opening up of the nationalised industry after four decades, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told Reuters.

To end a chronic coal shortage that cripples power plants and curb the country’s imports of the fuel, the Narendra Modi government will also spend about $1 billion by 2019 to buy railway wagons and transport coal from remote mines, Swarup said in an interview on Thursday.

The government last month made provisions for private firms to commercially mine coal but did not set any timeline for when actual digging will start.

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