Government-run Coal India Ltd (CIL) is mulling plans to acquire two Australian coal companies for more $4 billion (nearly Rs 23,000cr), a senior coal ministry official revealed.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said that CIL had already sent the proposals to acquire majority stakes for slightly more than $2 billion each in the two Australian companies to its foreign acquisition committee.

After getting clearance from the committee, the proposals would be forwarded to the company's board and the company would be ready to take the Australian assets over.

Revealing the development, the official added, "The entire process is likely to take at least three months because CIL will conduct a due diligence through its merchant bankers on the assets to make sure the return on investment is in stipulation with the government norms."

The official added that the two Australian companies together had annual output of 28 million tones. However, he declined to name the target companies.

CIL, which has nearly Rs 30,000 crore in hand, recently expressed its intension for acquiring assets overseas and received more than thirty proposals for acquiring assets in foreign markets, including Australia, Chile, Columbia, Indonesia, Mozambique and USA.