Link up the rural energy economy to galvanize it

India’ biofuel programme has served farmers well. To boost rural incomes, let's use fiscal resources to weave it into an expansive web of rural feedstock supplies from diverse sources

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent inauguration of a massive bamboo-based bio-refinery in Assam to produce fuel-grade ethanol is testimony to the government’s resolve to diversify feedstock for biofuels beyond India’s mainstay of maize and sugarcane.

The biofuel initiative has had considerable success. Filling stations today supply petrol with up to 20% ethanol content, aiming to serve three objectives: one, reduce foreign exchange outflows, since we import 88% of our oil needs; two, raise farmer earnings; and three, reduce carbon emissions. But diversifying inputs is a challenge. To appreciate this, a review of the measures taken to arrive at the current blend is instructive.