Modi government expects cargo traffic at its ports to jump by two-thirds by 2021 as India ramps up exports of goods including cars and other machinery.
Government will start to auction the rights to up to 70 diamond and gold exploration zones to mining companies this year
Labour unions, with a history of hostility towards management, are pushing back on Coal India's plans, fearing modernization and outsourcing will hit jobs.
Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in the south, and Rajasthan and Gujarat in the west, are the country's top producers of limestone
India plans to double coal production by 2020
The decision ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit beginning on Friday gives Tokyo an early lead over China.
The government wants to introduce a nationwide goods and services tax to revive its stalled reform programme.
'It is quite natural for our farmers to go for rice and cane when both power and water are almost free.'
India will also launch a sovereign gold bond to lower physical demand.
Rising tensions over eating beef in Hindu-majority India are starting to hit the multi-billion dollar buffalo meat trade.
Nearly two-thirds of India's gold demand comes from rural areas where jewellery is a traditional store of wealth for millions who have no access to the formal banking system.
The fields have reserves of about 89 million tonnes
Modi's reform agenda suffered a major setback earlier this month when lawmakers in the Rajya Sabha refused to support the the Goods and Service Tax bill.
This is another blow to Modi's ambitious economic reform agenda that has been stalled by a logjam in parliament
Nestle India Ltd will focus on growing its dairy, coffee and confectionary businesses, its new boss said
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley sought parliament's approval on Friday to increase the spending budget for this fiscal year by $4 billion, with almost half to be used to inject extra capital into state banks struggling with bad loans.
With a plunge in steel prices, ship owners are getting about $3.6 million less for the 25,000 tonnes of recoverable metal.
India is expected to cut imports by a fifth in the fiscal year.
Key to Modi's plan will be the interest rates offered for gold deposits.
India will issue a new decree this week for land purchases that has stirred disquiet across the country