MC Exclusive: G20 Biofuel Alliance to help Indian farmers, says Hardeep Singh Puri

IMEC to be more 'ambitious' than other similar projects, says Hardeep Singh Puri

Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) with 1 percent blending of biofuel will benefit five lakh farmers in India, said Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri in an exclusive interaction with Moneycontrol.

Puri said that one of the major implications of the launch of the Global Biofuel Alliance (GBA) would be sustainable fuel used in aircraft. He also added that India was set to achieve 20 percent ethanol blending with petrol by 2025, five years ahead of its target of 2030.

“If we do 1 percent biofuel blending as a norm for sustainable aviation fuel, we benefit 5 lakh farmers. And, if we raise biofuel blending norm to 5 percent, we benefit another 70 lakh farmers,” the minister said.

Under India’s G20 Presidency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the GBA on September 9, gathering support from 19 countries and international organisations.

The India-proposed GBA is an initiative to develop an alliance of governments, international organisations and industry to facilitate the adoption of biofuels.

Puri also added that India had saved around Rs 73,000 crore on its import bill in the last nine years because of biofuel blending, of which the Indian government was able to pay Rs 76,000 crore to farmers.

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On concerns that excessive focus on biofuel blending could aggravate a food crisis, Puri said, “The whole debate of food security is absurd... By going through the biofuel route you are enhancing your agriculture production.”

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