I was born in Andhra Pradesh and lived there for 21 years. I now...

I was born in Andhra Pradesh and lived there for 21 years. I now live in Adelaide and invested heavily in ESI.

Major chunk of northern Andhra survives on coal industry (NTPS Singareni mines - in operation for over 120 years now) with a population of about 20 Million depend on its power and employs 100,000 miners. It is the only source of power to light this massive stretch of geography. The country towns (90% live on agriculture)get about 4 Hrs of power supply in Summer and about 8 Hours in Winter. These towns are not remote, they are within 100 to 300 kms stretch from India's 6th largest city, IT hub Hyderabad. That says it all, what Indian needs - Coal !

India is investing heavily in nuclear power, 8 nuclear power stations are slated in AP alone. However, it is not enough. An estimate says, by 2050 40% of power will be from coal, that is after accounting for hypothetical large investments in nuclear, wind and solar.

India embraces coal more than Australia, and it's a reverse scene. In Australia we have NGOs and those nasty Greens attacking coal industry, while in India the attack is on nuclear. Hence, nuclear bills are facing tough time in Indian parliament. So, Coal is gold in India.

If not Australia, Indian market can alone put ESI on the edge.