India’s Essar Group is likely to acquire more coal and iron ore assets in Indonesia, Australia and Africa. The plans for acquisition were also confirmed by Chief Executive Officer Prashant Ruia. He further said that the acquisitions are planned in order to sustain through the domestic demand for resources. Therefore, through these acquisitions Conglomerate Essar Group intends to get access to more natural resources. "We believe that Indonesian coal is a natural fit for India, for power generation in the country, because India is short in power requirements and the import of coal is only going to increase over time," Ruia said

Besides Essar, other Indian companies such as Tata Power and Reliance Power are also planning to expand overseas in order to meet the energy demand prevailing in Asia's second-fastest growing major economy.

Indonesia became the wanted destination for coal-buying Indian power firms after the country aligned its coal pricing method with global practice. The alignment that would certainly make the natural resource dearer by Rs 1,500 a tonne for Indian power utilities is also likely to increase the electricity prices for domestic consumers. However, due to the prevailing coal shortage, India is required to import nearly 50 per cent (40 MT) of the resource from Indonesia.

Essar, the Mumbai-based company, earlier in March 2010, had already decided to buy the Aries coal mines in Indonesia's East Kalimantan province to secure supplies for its power plants. Therefore, the production in the 100 million metric tons of power- station coal is expected to start within a year.