India's burgeoning economy exposed the inability of its local economy to adequately fuel its accelerating expansion and some Indian firms are devising ways to meet the needs of the country's power-hungry industrial activities.

In search for more coal supplies, a conglomerate of five government-controlled Indian firms - Steel Authority of India, NTPC, NMDC, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam and Coal India - formed the International Coal Ventures (ICV) and now considers rivalling the takeover bid tossed by global mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd for Africa-focused collier Riversdale Mining Ltd.

In a report published by the Australian over the weekend, ICV chair C.S. Verma was quoted as saying that the Indian conglomerate had tapped the services of Citibank for its advice on a possible counter-bid for the Perth-based coal miner and "the merchant bank will submit its report in the next two weeks, based on which we will take a call on counter-bidding for Riversdale."

Analysts said that in order to pose an effective offer for Riversdale, ICV will have to put up a share offer that would surpass Rio Tinto's $16 per share proposal and Indian economists are under the impression that money is not an issue in thwarting Rio's aim of cornering coal produces coming from Mozambique and South Africa.

Or, the conglomerate could directly appeal to its compatriot company, Tata Steel, which maintains a 24 percent ownership in Riversdale Mining, a proposition that is not far-fetched as recent indicators from Tata Steel suggests that an alternative offer from ICV is a viable consideration.

At present, Riversdale boasts off some 13 billion tonnes of thermal and coking coal reserves in Africa, which are enough factors for India's state-owned and private companies to actively pursue the Australian miner, considering the Indian economy's apparent requirement of more fuel sources.

It could prove a tall order for India as Rio Tinto already secured the support of Riversdale shareholders on its billion-dollar bid but the giant mining firm could not afford to rest at this time and consider raising its offer in light of the Indian's firms spirited effort to rival its proposal.

Also, Commonwealth Bank analysts, according to The Australian, had projected that in the event of a bidding war, the share offer could easily breach the $20 per share mark as Brazilian firm CSN pushed forward its similar intent to capture the African coal deposits of Riversdale Mining.