JSW Group exploring possibilities to acquire coal mines in offshore markets

Homegrown firm JSW Group is exploring possibilities to acquire coking coal mines in offshore markets, industry sources said.

The steel-to-infrastructure group is exploring the mineral assets in countries like Australia and Mozambique etc, they said.

"JSW Group is exploring possibilities to acquire coking coal mines in offshore markets like Mozambique, Australia etc for captive purposes," sources said.

Captive coking coal mines will help group company JSW Steel reduce its cost of production for manufacturing steel, they explained.

When contacted, a JSW Group spokesperson declined to make any comment.

JSW Steel is into manufacturing steel through the blast furnace route, a process which requires coking coal as a key raw material.

Due to the unavailability of coking coal, India remains dependent on imports to meet 85 per cent of its coking coal needs from far-located countries like Australia, South Africa, Canada and the US.

Specifically, JSW Steel meets 60 per cent of its coking coal requirement via imports. JSW Steel is among India's top six steel manufacturing companies.