National Policy on Biofuels, 2009 (India)

The National Policy on Biofuels aims at mainstreaming of biofuels and, therefore, envisions a central role for it in the energy and transportation sectors of the country in coming decades. The implementation of the Policy will bring about accelerated development and promotion of the cultivation, production and use of biofuels to increasingly substitute petrol and diesel for transport and be used in stationary and other applications, while contributing to energy security, climate change mitigation, apart from creating new employment opportunities and leading to environmentally sustainable development. The goal of the Policy is to ensure that a minimum level of biofuels become readily available in the market to meet the demand at any given time. 

The focus for development of biofuels in India will be to utilize waste and degraded forest and non-forest lands only for cultivation of shrubs and trees bearing non-edible oil seeds for production of bio-diesel. In India, bio-ethanol is produced mainly from molasses, a by-product of the sugar industry. In the future, it would be ensured that the next generation of technologies is based on nonfood feedstocks such that the issue of fuel vs. food security becomes irrelevant in the Indian context.