In view of rising production of the dry fuel, India plans to completely stop thermal coal imports in two to three years that would result in annual savings of Rs 40,000 crore, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday.

Coking coal, however, would need to be imported, the Coal and Power Minister said at the maiden Maritime India Summit in Mumbai, adding that his Ministry was ready to tie up with Indian shipping companies for this purpose.

Record coal production by the world's largest coal miner Coal India Ltd (CIL), helped India reduce its import bill of the dry fuel by more than Rs 28,000 crore in the last fiscal.

Also read As CIL mines more, coal imports shrink a fourth

"I have no hesitation in saying that Indian companies used to import a lot of thermal coal. We want to completely stop the import of thermal coal in the next two to three years. We have already reduced imports by Rs 28,000 crore. We will save Rs 40,000 crore," Goyal said.

I would like to reduce or even stop the imports of thermal coal in the next 2-3 years and promote domestic resources. Also read Coal India crosses 500-million tonnes production mark April 15, 2016

He said his Ministry was ready to enter into pacts with Indian shipping companies for import and transportation of coal.

"This is the time for Indians to buy ships, to invest in infrastructure. This is the time for Indian shipping companies to own ships. I am happy to do long term contracts with Indian shipping companies to transport our coal. Why don't we have a long-term contract," he said.

Goyal also proposed setting up a small private equity fund that would be handled by an international fund investor expert.

"We can have some base capital of about $250 million (nearly Rs 1,663.2 crore) and this fund can provide equity to various organisations undertaking logistics through coastal shipping and inland waterways," he said.

"Let's look at innovative solutions," he added.

Partnership between inland waterway shipping and coal cos. will enable in fulfilling the dream of providing affordable 24*7 power to Indians — Piyush Goyal (@PiyushGoyal) April 15, 2016

Goyal said if public sector units (PSUs), as well as, the ministries of power, coal and others contributed to this, it will give confidence to the private sector to participate in this initiative.

"We could also raise about Rs 4,000 crore from international investors," he said.

Goyal said the government is committed to ramping up Coal India's production to 1 billion tonnes by 2019.

In 2015-16, the 'Maharatna' achieved a record production of 536 million tonnes (MT), which was 42 MT more than the previous fiscal.

Its production grew by 8.5% year-on-year. Coal India, which accounts for over 80% of the domestic coal production, was,however, eyeing 550 MT in 2015-16.