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Bloomberg
India’s government has approved scrapping a cap on foreign investment in commercial coal mining, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, as part of efforts to boost economic growth.
The change would allow overseas miners such as BHP Group Ltd and Glencore Plc to own 100 percent of mining companies.
A spokeswoman at Commerce and Industry Ministry was not immediately available for a comment.
The proposal to ease foreign investment rules in coal mining has been discussed for more than a year. A decision to finally approve the plan comes as Modi tries to lure overseas investors to an economy that’s growing at the slowest pace in five years. Last week Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced several measures to kick start an economy that recently lost its spot as the world’s fastest growing.
While most developed nations are turning away from the fossil fuel, demand is rising in India. Opening up coal mining could tackle fuel shortages and revive growth in Asia’s third-largest economy which expanded at 5.8 percent in the March quarter, the slowest pace since 2014.