(Corrects headline and paragraph 1 to Adani Enterprises from Adani Power)

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's thermal coal imports could rise by about 10 percent to 174-177 million tonnes in 2019, an executive from Adani Enterprises said on Tuesday.

"We expect strong demand from the sponge iron industry, amounting to about 40-50 million tonnes," Rajendra Singh, chief operating officer of coal trading at India's largest coal trader Adani Enterprises said at the Coaltrans conference.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; Editing by Shreejay Sinha)

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