Stewart G Beck said in New Delhi on the sidelines of an interactive session with members of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) eastern chapter. The Canadian diplomat also met senior officials of Coal India Ltd to discuss about the opportunities for the company.
A number of Indian steel firms have already started importing coal from Canada. CIL was planning to import coal on behalf of its power plant consumers to meet the shortfall in supply and tender has already been floated seeking bids for the same.
But as CIL is looking at thermal coal to feed the power plants, it is looking at coal sources closer home. Beck also expressed hope for higher growth in bilateral trade with India. "In 2013, the total bilateral trade was around $5.5 billion, a growth of 12 percent over last year. We are expecting a higher growth this year," he added.
The two countries aim to increase bilateral trade to $15 billion by 2015.
Coal India Limited came into being in November 1975 with the government taking over private coal mines. With a modest production of 79 Million Tonnes (MTs) at the year of its inception CIL today is the single largest coal producer in the world. Operating through 81 mining areas CIL is an apex body with seven wholly-owned coal producing subsidiaries and one mine planning and consultancy company spread over eight states of India. CIL also fully owns a mining company in Mozambique christened as 'Coal India Africana Limitada'.
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