Government will start to auction the rights to up to 70 diamond and gold exploration zones to mining companies this year

Labour unions, with a history of hostility towards management, are pushing back on Coal India's plans, fearing modernization and outsourcing will hit jobs.

Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, and Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west, are the country's top producers of limestone

India plans to double coal production by 2020

India will also launch a sovereign gold bond to lower physical demand.

Nearly two-thirds of India's gold demand comes from rural areas where jewellery is a traditional store of wealth for millions who have no access to the formal banking system.

Nestle India Ltd will focus on growing its dairy, coffee and confectionary businesses, its new boss said

India is expected to cut imports by a fifth in the fiscal year.

India was once the world's third largest iron ore exporter and Goa its biggest exporting state

India's long-held position as the world's top diamond polisher is being challenged by soaring output from China.

Zama, however, said the unions would keep resisting any move that could undermine the position of Coal India.

India will allow locally registered foreign firms to mine and sell coal when commercial mining is permitted as part of the opening up of the nationalised industry after four decades, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told Reuters.

India's steel imports from China, the world's biggest producer of the alloy, doubled in April-September from a year ago though the country has enough capacity to meet its demand.

The company has also advised power firms to use trucks to carry coal from remote mines, like the Amrapali open cast pit in eastern Jharkhand state.

State behemoth Coal India, the world's largest coal miner, has failed to raise its output fast enough to meet demand, and millions of Indians still go without power.

India on Tuesday set a minimum export price for onions of $300 per tonne to discourage overseas shipments amid an inflation scare that threatens to stoke public anger over rising prices at local food markets.

The PM-elect wants to fix the coal sector; cut coal imports by boosting output.

Environment ministry has given its go-ahead to POSCO's planned steel plant in the country, but has asked it to spend on "social commitments", a company spokesman said, raising the project's cost by $600 million to $12.6 billion.