Adani chairman Gautam Adani has told an Australian business forum in India his country still needs imported resources, contradicting the Indian Government's policy of coal self-sufficiency.
"Imports of high-quality resources to augment domestic mining will be required," Mr Adani said at the conclusion of the Australia-India CEO forum in New Delhi.
Adani plans to import 60 million tonnes of coal from Australia each year, from his company's controversial Carmichael mine in Queensland.
The company gave the project the go-ahead earlier this year and several days ago Mr Adani said construction would start in October.
Mr Adani's comments appeared to be aimed at justifying the mine, which will be one of the world's largest.
Stating bluntly that India needs more high-quality coal than it can currently mine runs counter to the policy of India's Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom Mr Adani has previously associated.
In June this year, Energy Minister Piyush Goyal told a press conference, "We do not wish to import any coal from anywhere in the world".
"We have sufficient coal capacity," Mr Goyal said.
India currently gets almost 59 per cent of its power from coal-fired generators.
Government planning documents show although it is rapidly expanding solar and other renewable energy supplies, India will remain primarily reliant on coal for electricity until 2040.
Australian environmental groups opposing it have long argued it ought not be built because of questions about its viability.
In a separate interview earlier this week, Mr Adani celebrated a recent appeal victory over the Australian Conservation Foundation, which had challenged the Carmichael mine's environmental approval.
Mr Adani said he expected it to be producing coal by 2020.
