NEW DELHI, October 21. /TASS/. The Indian government is considering an opportunity of importing coking coal from Mongolia via the Russian territory, a government source told The Economic Times.

"This route allows India to avoid over-reliance on transit through China. Despite a longer route, India is considering importing Mongolian cooking coal via Russia in an effort to diversify sources of the fuel for Indian steel industry," the source told the news outlet.

The Indian government sent the delegation to Ulaanbaatar at the request of Indian companies after unstable supplies of coking coal from Australia last year. Indian companies consume about 70 mln metric tons of coking coal per year, with 85% of needs met on account of imports from Australia, Russia, the United States, and other countries.