India officially started opening its coal sector to non-State firms, seeking to end a decades-long government monopoly on mining and selling the fuel.
The country on Thursday launched its first auction process, which will cover 41 mines, the Ministry of Coal said in a statement.
The Ministry expects the mines to generate 330-billion rupees of capital investment over the next five to seven years, and boost the nation’s yearly output by as much as 225-million tons.
Despite a global shift away from coal to cleaner energy like wind and solar generation, India is seeking to boost production as a way to help the country recover from the economic toll of the Covid-19 pandemic.