Coal India to get assets abroad

Coal India Ltd (CIL) will spend Rs.5,000 crore this fiscal to acquire assets abroad, Pratik Prakashbapu Patil, minister of state in the coal ministry, said Monday.

The state miner has also made a Rs.500-crore outlay to develop a coal block in Mozambique, the minister informed parliament in a written reply.

The overseas budget is in addition to CIL's capital investment budget of Rs.4,275 crore for in the current fiscal to achieve production of 464.10 million tonnes and dispatch target of 470 million tonnes of coal.

Coal production and offtake by the country's largest producer has been in focus after India's worst power outage last month, that affected more than 600 million people.

Production shortfalls have meant greater quantity of imports of coal at higher cost. The minister also informed parliament that CIL's envisaged capital investment in the 12th plan is Rs.24,400 crore for the period 2012-17.
In addition, an outlay of Rs. 25,000 crore is planned for acquiring assets abroad and Rs.10,000 crore for development of a coal block in Mozambique.