India's coal shortage to deepen next year

India's coal deficit will deepen sharply next year,magnetic speparation for iron ore thicker its coal minister said on Tuesday, forcing Asia's third largest economy to import more of the fuel on which it relies.

The coal shortage will be 104 million tonnes in the next fiscal to March 2012, Sriprakash Jaiswal said, a jump of 23.8 percent from the current year's estimate. Delegates at a coal mining summit on Tuesday said difficulties over land acquisition, social and environmental hurdles and low investments would be a drag on output growth.