India prods steelmakers to use local coal to cut US$4b import bill

New Delhi

INDIA is asking the country's big steelmakers to consider converting local medium-quality coal into premium coking coal to slash an annual import bill of more than US$4 billion for buying that grade from countries such as Australia and South Africa.

Resurgent local output of power-generating thermal coal has been one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's successes, and the latest project could help India to partly make up for a shortage of coking reserves that forces companies like JSW Steel and Jindal Steel to import heavily.