India in talk with Russia to source coking coal

New Delhi: India is in talks with Russia to source coking coal as part of large efforts to reduce dependence few exporting countries like Australia, the US and Canada, according to sources.

In this regard a meeting was also held here on Tuesday in which Union Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan along with members of the domestic steel and mining industry met a delegation of Russian officials and industry players, official sources said.

The meeting comes a month after Pradhan's visit to Moscow in August where he along with representatives of top Indian steel companies had met with a large number of Russian coking coal suppliers and steel companies.

Coking coal is a key raw material in steel production.

During the meeting, which was attended by representatives of companies like Adani Group, Hindalco, JSW Steel, JSPL, Tata Power, RINL, SAIL, Coal India among others, the minister apprised the Russian delegation about the opportunities in the growing Indian steel sector. India imports more than 50 million tonne of coking coal.

The minister informed the Russian delegation that if India gets quality coking coal at competitive rates, including logistic cost, it would like to diversify its sources of raw material.