India's coal imports in the just concluded FY 2015 increased by 33 per cent to about 240 million tonnes.
"Coal import have gone up by 33 per cent to about 240 million tonnes in the last fiscal, " mjunction Managing Director & CEO Viresh Oberoi told PTI.
Mjunction Services is a e-auction joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL.
The imports have gone up due to fall in the coal prices in the international market leading to the companies, including power producers, to buy imported coal, he said.
"With the fall in international coal prices, the companies, including the power firms, in the western and southern region are buying imported coal," he said.
The coal import in 2013-14 was about 180 million tonnes, he said.
Oberoi further further said the coal import in the ongoing fiscal is likely to be between 220-250 million tonnes.
State-run Coal India meets over 80 per cent of the domestic requirement.
Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said last month that importing coal is "unjustified" at a time when the country is sitting on huge coal reserves.
"When the country is sitting on a huge coal reserve, to import it is unjustified. The production of coal has risen from 432 million tonne to 460 million tonne and will cross 493 million tonne this year, which will be an increase of over 30 million tonne," Goyal had said.
The government has set an ambitious one billion tonne coal production target for Coal India by 2020.
