India heads towards B20 mandate announcement in March

In India, a group of ministers meeting is expected, as soon as March, to propose a mandatory B20 blending standard. The Agriculture ministry also said that it would set up a biofuel development board, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Ministry of Rural Development has also said it would be able to to manage the board. India’s government is struggling to plan for enough energy to sustain the country on an 8-9 percent growth rate over the next 25 years, which will require a quadrupling of energy supply.

The Biodiesel Association of India (BDAI) reecently called on the central government to place biodiesel in the “declared goods” category so that it will receive a uniform rate of taxation throughout the country.

The BDAI had also called on the government to encourage the use of B20 blends and exempt biodiesel used in those blends from taxation. Meanwhile, the president of the BDAI, Sandeep Chaturvedi, said that the industry faces a feedstock shortage and is not utilizing full production capacity. At other times, BDAI has proposed a B5 mandate, a price reduction from the current $2.54 level, and a 30 percent subsidy on jatropha cultivation.

Until now, although India has been a leader in jatropha-based research, most Indian biofuels activity has been on the ethanol side, although D1 Williamson Magor Biofuels announced that it would invest $89 million in jatropha plantations and a biodiesel plant, with an eventual ambition of a 55,000 hectare jatropha plantation in eastern India.

Reports continue to pour in that India is far from ready for the E10 mandate. Oil companies were directed to commence blending E5 blending in October, but have not procured enough ethanol to meet the mandate. Reports have been published stating that the industry have procured less than 40 million gallons towards their expanded ethanol goal for next year. Further, older vehicles will not be E10 compatible, and new cars from Suzuki and Hyundai are not E10 compatible also.

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