Indian coal minister will approach Prime Minister next month for raising the lower-priced domestic selling price, the PTI reported.

Coal price in India currently is about USD 25 a tonne, about one-third of the prevailing global levels at present, said Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.

The Indian coal ministry plans to discuss the price hike with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after the Budget session of Parliament, Sriprakash was cited as said.

Low coal prices also affected the financial position of state-owned producer Coal India Ltd (CIL), in which Sriprakash is seeking up to 10 percent disinvestment.

Due to economic recession, the state-run entity has been partially hit by the slump in coal demand. One main factor behind the firm wanting to hike rates is the coal-wage pact, involving a payment that was revised upwards to about Rs 4,000 crore, between CIL and its workers, the report said.

CIL said earlier it may fail to proceed several multi-billion dollar projects, including underground mining, if prices are not hiked on priority.

The government is considering 5-10 per cent disinvestment in CIL, which had a pre-tax profit of Rs 8,700 crores in the last fiscal.