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India to Open Coal to Commercial Mining Firms

India expects to hold auctions for private firms to mine and sell coal in the near future, the country's coal and power minister Piyush Goyal said but first wants to deal with mines that are directly linked to plants that use the fuel. To boost output and cut imports, Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed an executive decree in December to open up India's nationalised coal industry. Bids have been invited from firms that use coal for their own power, steel or cement plants. "Once my actual user requirements are broadly met, I'm hoping to start opening up to private miners," Goyal told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.