Goal is to build capacity, reduce imports of coal, machinery: Coal secy

India is working on achieving its goal to reduce spending on importing machinery and equipment for coal mining and simultaneously building up its own capacity to step up exports to other countries, Amrit Lal Meena, Union Secretary, Ministry of Coal said here on Saturday.

Coal India Limited (CIL) is still dependent on import of high capacity mining machines, rope shovels, 190T Dumpers and front-end loaders. The average annual import of these high capacity mining machines of Coal India Limited (CIL) is approximately Rs 750 crores for which customs duty of about Rs 250 crore has to be paid, he said.

CIL has been placing trial orders to encourage manufacturers to develop these equipment in India and results have been encouraging, Meena said while addressing a stakeholders meet on 'Make in India' initiatives for mining machineries here.

CIL plans to phase down imports of these equipment gradually over the next few years and make the vision of Atma Nirbhar Bharat a reality, the secretary said. He added that 'Make In India' was not just a campaign started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi but a movement towards a more self-reliant and globally competitive India.

Our ultimate goal is to reduce the spending on importing machinery and equipment and to build the capacity to export to other countries. That is our endeavour, Meena said.

This was also why private sector participation was being encouraged for exploration in this sector, he said, and explained about the steps taken by the Centre for improvements and the roadmap for future development.

He urged stakeholders to explore ventures into coal gasification.

The present consumption of coal in India was around 1,100 million tonnes (MT) and as the domestic demand at present was about 1,300 MT coal, about 200 MT coal was being imported from other countries. Nearly 85 percent of the country's coal was utilised by the power sector, Meena added.