INDIA’S ETHANOL DRIVE

The ethanol blending programme is benefited by special subsidies provided for the purchase of feedstock by ethanol producers, and the lower rate of GST paid by them

- Ajit Ranade

India’s sustained economic growth will not happen without parallel and steady increase in energy usage. That will increase at roughly the same rate as GDP growth for the next two decades. We need to increase electricity for households, factories and offices, and fuel for transportation.

Three-fourth of India’s electricity is produced from coal and the remaining is from renewable sources such as solar, wind, hydro, nuclear and biomass. The installed capacity of renewables has reached nearly 50% of the total, but production is at 25%. India has the third largest deposits of coal but still needs to import more than one-fifth of its requirement from foreign sources. That means an outgo of $20 billion or more for importing coal.