NEWS : The Union Cabinet approved amendments to the National Policy on Biofuels, 2018, to advance the date by which fuel companies have to increase the percentage of ethanol in petrol to 20%, from 2030 to 2025

KEY AMENDMENTS APPROVED

• One of the amendments is that the government will allow more feedstocks for the production of biofuels.
• The preponement of date will promote the production of biofuels in the country, under the Make in India program, by units located in Special Economic Zones (SEZ)/ Export Oriented Units (EoUs).
• The government has allowed the addition of new members to the National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC). NBCC was constituted under the Chairmanship of Minister, Petroleum & Natural Gas (P&NG) to provide overall coordination, effective end-to-end implementation and monitoring of biofuel programme.
• Permission will be granted for the export of biofuels in specific cases.

NATIONAL POLICY ON BIOFUELS, 2018

• The “National Policy on Biofuels was notified by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in 2018.
• The policy was notified in supersession of the National Policy on Biofuels, promulgated through the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, in 2009.

The salient features of the Policy are as under:

• Categorization of biofuels as “Basic Biofuels” and “Advanced Biofuels”
• Incentives, off-take assurance and viability gap funding for advanced biofuels
• Allowing B-molasses, sugarcane juice, damaged food grains and surplus food grains for ethanol production
• Setting up of supply chain mechanisms for biodiesel production from non-edible oilseeds, Used Cooking Oil, short gestation crops
• A synergy of efforts by defining the roles and responsibilities of all the concerned Ministries/Departments with respect to biofuels