India’s national biodiesel “mission” shelved, but ventures continue to pursue massive jatropha projects

In India, the national initiative for biodiesel has been shelved by a group of federal ministers responsible for biofuels policy development. The proposed ‘national mission on biodiesel’  would have devoted nearly 4 million hectares to biodiesel crops such as jatropha, and required an investment  of $322 million. BP is continuing to pursue a 200,000 hectare project with D1 Oils, while state oil company IOC is developing 60,000 hectares of waste land areas, including 30,000 hectares in Chhattisgarh and a proposed development of 30,000 hectares in Madhya Pradesh.

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