Indian Companies are making a beeline to secure coal assets abroad in order to ensure continuous fuel supplies to their power projects back home. During August 2011, the GMR Group and GVK Power & Infrastructure announced two such acquisitions.

The GMR Group, in order to ensure fuel security, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire 30 per cent stake in PT Golden Energy Mines Tbk (GEMS), the Sinar Mas Group Company in Indonesia. The acquisition will be carried out through the Group's subsidiary GMR Energy (GEL) at an estimated value of $550 million (approx Rs 2,475 crore). This acquisition will also help GMR purchase coal over the next 25 years, with the annual offtake quantity steadily increasing to 10 million tonne over the coming years. GEMS have reserves of over 860 million tonne and coal resources of 1.9 billion tonne. The acquisition will be funded through a combination of debt and internal accruals.

In continuation with their quest to acquire coal assets abroad, another Indian company - GVK Power & Infrastructure reached a deal to acquire two coals mines in Australia. It will pay $2.2 billion (approx Rs 10,680 crore) for Hancock Prospecting's mines and the transport infrastructure, which will be needed to move the coal at least 500 km to a port. The two coal mines that GVK buys shall have combined reserves of 7.6 billion tonne and will be located in the Galilee Basin in Queensland province. They can produce 30 million tonne of coal annually over a life period of 30 years