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Power Minister Piyush Goyal made a passionate pitch for investment in India by Australian mining and energy companies at the India- Australia Energy Dialogue here today.
"We're going to expand and mine coal for many years to come. There's no larger market for you than India now," Goyal said while addressing a round table with representatives of energy companies such as Carbon Energy and Geo Energy, members of the Queensland Resources Council and the Trade and Investment authority of Queensland.
The two pre-requisites are cost-effectiveness and the ability to scale up the investment fast, Goyal said, while pointing to opportunities in underground coal mining, washeries and crushers.
"We need clean coal technologies and learn best practices in mining from Australian companies which are well versed in the business," Goyal said.
The Minister assured a corruption-free environment for investors and quick approvals for their investment proposals while asking the assembled executives to be candid in their views on investing in India.
When an investor pointed out how high-value equipment used for surveying mineral reserves and imported by him into India was held up in Customs for more than 6 months, Goyal directed bureaucrats sitting next to him to open a portal where such complaints could be uploaded and brought to his notice if not solved within a set time-frame.
Later in the afternoon the Minister and his delegation visited the Safety in Mines Testing and Research Station or SIMTARS for short, just outside Brisbane. The body, set up by the Queensland government, to offer training in mine safety, has a virtual reality centre that can simulate the experience inside a coal mine, including possible accidents and ways of preventing them. Impressed by the facility, Goyal immediately invited Mark Williams, Director of the centre to visit India at the earliest and examine the possibility of setting up a similar facility. "Mine-worker safety is paramount and we're ready to spend whatever is needed to set up a virtual reality centre in India," Goyal said, promising Williams a start- up team of fifty young employees drawn from Coal India.
(This correspondent is in Australia at the invitation of CII)
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