New Delhi, April 20 -- All new steel plants opening till the year 2030 may have to mandatorily use 30% domestic coking coal, under a plan to reduce import dependence and boost local coal use. Currently, steel plants use a maximum of 20% domestic coal in their operations.

The blending mandate is expected to reduce the cost of importing coking coal by almost 25%, two people aware of the plan said. Under India's National Steel Policy, plants with a capacity of 150 million tonnes (mt) capacity are expected to come on stream by 2030. The policy proposes to raise India's crude steel production from 168 mt in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) to 300 mt by FY31.

"Our aim is to increase production of coking coal and reduce dependence on imports, while hel...