State-run Coal India Ltd will set up an overseas subsidiary to buy mines and coal blocks abroad to secure energy supplies for the country, the company's chairman said on Thursday. "We hope to get government approval in the current fiscal year to set up the new company. We are looking at properties in Africa," Shashi Kumar told reporters.

India imports small quantities of coal, mainly in coastal regions far from the mines in northern and eastern India but imports are likely to rise to nearly 100 million tonnes a year by 2012, according to government estimates. Coal meets a little over half of India's energy demand and power generation accounts for 70 percent of domestic coal consumption.

The energy-deficient country also imports 70 percent of its crude oil requirement and is aggressively bidding for foreign petroleum assets to meet the energy needs of its booming economy.

Copyright Reuters, 2005