new delhi, April 20 -- All new steel plants opening till the year 2030 may have to mandatorily use 30% domestic coking coal, under a plan to reduce import dependence and boost local coal use. Currently, steel plants use a maximum of 20% domestic coal in their operations. The blending mandate is expected to reduce the cost of importing coking coal by almost 25%, two people aware of the plan said. Under India's National Steel Policy, plants with a capacity of 150 million tonnes capacity are expected to come on stream by 2030. The policy proposes to raise India's crude steel production from 168 million tonnes (mt) in fiscal year 2026 (FY26) to 300 mt by FY31. "Our aim is to increase production of coking coal and reduce dependence on imports, while helping the steel sector get assured supply of fuel required for steelmaking. Higher blending of good quality domestic coking coal up to 30% is a step in that direction," one of the two people mentioned above said on the condition of anonymity. The blending ratio will be further raised in future, and the 30% mandate will apply to existing steel capacities too, the person added, as availability of good quality domestic washed coal improves. Steelmakers import relatively purer coking coal suitable for metallurgy, while Indian coal typically has high amounts of ash and sulfur, which reduce blast furnace efficiency. Coal washeries help clean up the impurities, and make it suitable for steelmaking. Currently, Indian steel plants are able to blend domestic coal only up to about 20%, highlighting the need for technological adjustments and new capacity to accommodate higher blending levels. India currently imports around 250 mt of coal yearly, a fourth of which is coking coal, used by the steel industry. It imported 57 mt of coking coal in FY25. Increasing local blending is expected to ease pressure on imports and improve self-reliance. Queries mailed to ministries of coal and steel remained unanswered. Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel and SAIL also did not respond to queries on their readiness to take higher blends of domestic coking coal in their blast furnaces. According to AS Firoz, former steel ministry chief economist and a metal sector expert, the priority is to establish adequate domestic capacity to supply acceptable grades of washed coking coal. "For some reasons, domestic supplies of washed coking coal have not been absorbed in the market. Therefore, there is unlikely to be a supply constraint. For new capacities, this is a reasonable policy move. There will be some impact on the blast furnace efficiency, which may consequently raise production cost, which will have to be covered by lowering the prices of domestic coal. Reduction in import dependence is also welcome from strategic point of view," Firoz added. Under Mission Coking Coal, domestic raw coking coal production is likely to reach 140 mt by 2030. The total domestic raw coking coal production during FY25 is 59.6 mt. The domestic raw coking coal production target for FY26 was set at 83 mt. "A blast furnace is highly relevant today and will remain so for immediate future through higher share in new iron and steel capacities. Coking coal is hence a critical raw material, which today is serviced through significant imports. Increased domestic coking coal would not only ensure raw material security but also reduction in imports," said Amit Bhargava, national leader, metals and mining, KPMG in India. India is also looking at implementing stamp-charging technology to increase the domestic coal blending from 10-20% to 30% for steel making. Stamp charging involves compacting coal into a dense, solid cake outside the oven, which is then pushed into the coke oven. This method offers several advantages for utilizing lower-quality domestic coal by steel makers....