MC Exclusive | G20 Biofuel Alliance will facilitate green technology transfer across countries: Nitin Gadkari

Gadkari highlighted that in the past nine years, the automobile industry has grown from a Rs 4.5 lakh crore market to a Rs 12.5 lakh crore.

The Global Biofuel Alliance will facilitate the transfer of green technology between countries and help fast track the adoption of biofuels across the world, thereby reducing air pollution, Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol.

"The Global Biofuel Alliance is very essential going forward. It will not only help reduce dependence on fossil fuels, but will also help reduce pollution caused by fossil fuels," the minister said.

He added that India has the technology to manufacture biofuel at an economically viable rate which can then be used as a greener alternative to petrol and diesel, thereby reducing air pollution as well.

"In India, around 40 percent of our air pollution is due to our automobile industry and it's high time we look at an alternative greener fuel to reduce air pollution," Gadkari said.

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Gadkari, who has been pushing for the use of biofuels in the Indian automobile and aviation industry, said, that through the alliance India can share its green hydrogen manufacturing technology with the world while taking advantage of global technology to boost bio-ethanol manufacturing.

"India can now share its technology to manufacture bio-ethanol from countries like Brazil and USA and share our technology in manufacturing green hydrogen," Gadkari said.

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He added that Brazil has been using bio-ethanol to power its aircraft and the US can manufacture bio-ethanol from corn, which will be very useful for India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Global Biofuel Alliance on September 9, gathering support from 19 countries and international organisations.

This is not the first time Gadkari has emphasised the need to focus on biofuels as a greener alternative to petrol and diesel.

While speaking at the 63rd Annual SIAM convention on September 12, Gadkari said that Indian automobile manufacturers should now look to transition into manufacturing greener vehicles.

He warned automobile manufacturers that the government may look at stricter norms for petrol and diesel vehicles if they don't increase investment into greener vehicles.

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Gadkari has also batted for the requirement of increased use of biodiesel, bio CNG and all other types of biofuel in the transport sector in an attempt to reduce the import of fossil fuels.

Incidentally, 80 percent of India's petrol and diesel requirement is imported from overseas, which is a huge expenditure.

The Global Biofuel Alliance, first proposed at India Energy Week in February, was one of the priorities of the Indian government at the G20 Summit.

(Keep watching this space for more updates from this exclusive interview)