NEW DELHI: India’s coal imports fell five per cent in October in their fourth straight monthly slide as local output rose fast under the government’s push to open a mine every month, keeping the country on course to become self-sufficient in thermal coal in three years. Asia’s third largest economy is targeting to more than double coal output to 1.5 billion tonnes this decade, and state-run Coal India has already turned around its poor performance with record growth from old and new pits. Coal imports into India, the world’s third-largest buyer, fell to 14.52 million tonnes last month from a year earlier, according to trade ministry data. April to October purchases fell 4.6 per cent to 108.4 million.