Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, organised a consultative workshop on New National Policy on Biofuels & Pradhan Mantri Ji- Van Yojana (VGF for 2nd Generation Ethanol Bio Refineries) recently in order to invite suggestions for drafting a suitable roadmap for Biofuels in India. The workshop was organised as the government is promoting Biofuels with an objective to reduce dependency on import of crude oil, savings in foreign exchange, provide better remuneration for the farmers and address growing environment concerns in the light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Commitment at COP 21. 

Minister of Petroleum and natural Gas, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Dharmendra Pradhan in his speech said that 1-G and 2-G Ethanol, Biodiesel, MSW to Fuel and Bio-CNG together with Methanol(DME) have huge potential in augmenting economic growth, generating employment and doubling farmers’ income. He further said that this will be instrumental in achieving the target of 10% import reduction by 2022 set by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 

During the day long workshop, five Working Groups on 1-G Ethanol, 2-G Ethanol, Biodiesel, Municipal Solid Wastes to Fuel & Bio-CNG comprising of all the stakeholders (producers, bankers and buyers) deliberated issues related to their segment in detail and came up with many constructive suggestions and inputs. 

According to Pradhan, the workshop provided many constructive suggestions related to feedstock management, technology, capacity augmentation, fiscal incentives and Supply chain management were received.