India's coal output from non-state- run producers may rise fivefold by 2012, helping to meet rising demand from power, steel and cement companies. Coal production may increase to as much as 105 million metric tons a year from 20 million tons now, H.C. Gupta, secretary to the Coal Ministry, said at a conference in New Delhi today. India may invite bids from overseas and local companies to boost output. India's economy, Asia's third biggest, has grown more than 8 percent annually since 2003, increasing the need for coal for power producers, cement companies and steelmakers to make cars and appliances. Coal India Ltd., the state-owned monopoly, plans to acquire mines overseas in the next two years to meet demand.
Allowing bids for coal exploration will attract better technology and help increase output through methods such as underground mining, Gupta said.
Coal India, based in Kolkata, plans to buy coking coal mines in Australia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and thermal coal mines in Indonesia and South Africa, K. Ranganath, director for marketing, said on March 4. Thermal coal is used to generate power and coking coal is a steelmaking ingredient.
India, one of the world's five biggest buyers of coal, uses the fuel to fire more than half its 141,080-megawatt electricity generation capacity.
A lack of fuels, including coal and gas, slowed India's capacity addition to 21,180 megawatts in the five years ended March 31, 2007, compared with the target of 41,110 megawatts, according to the Power Ministry's Web site.
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