(From left) Minister of state for coal Santosh Bagrodia with Indian Chamber of Commerce president Sanjay Budhia, Gujarat NRE Coke MD Arun K. Jagatramka and Ispat Industries vice-chairman Vinod Mittal at a coal summit in New Delhi on Friday. (PTI)

New Delhi, Sept. 5: Coal India will import for the first time to meet the demand of power producers.

The company plans to import four million tonnes of coal, chairman Partha Bhattacharyya said on the sidelines of a coal summit organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce.

“This is uncharted territory for us, because we have never imported before,” he said. Coal India plans to acquire mines in Indonesia, Mozambique and Australia, Bhattacharyya said.

Coal India, National Thermal Power Corporation, Steel Authority of India Ltd, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and NMDC have formed a company to buy coal assets overseas. The new entity may have a capital base of $2.3 billion, officials said.

According to Union power secretary Anil Razdan, the country plans to import around 15 million tonnes of coal for its thermal power plants in the current financial year.

He said the country was unable to utilise two per cent of its installed power generation capacity because of raw material shortage.

Coal India’s output is expected to rise to 405 million tonnes next year and to 520 million tonnes by 2012 from 380 million tonnes now. The joint venture company plans to spend $2.2 billion in the next five years to raise production and reach the target of 51.1 million tonnes by 2012.

Kuljit Singh, energy analyst with Ernst & Young, said, “The demand-supply deficit in India has been increasing. The deficit is being met through imports, which have more than doubled in the past four years to 50 million tonnes in 2007-08. Moreover, consumers prefer imported coal because of its lower ash content and higher calorific value.”