10% Biofuel Blended Biodiesel Coming Soon: Nitin Gadkari

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has reiterated the Centre’s focus on expanding biofuel usage in the country, with a specific emphasis on biodiesel. Speaking at the Praj BioVerse event in Pune on the 10th anniversary of World Biofuel Day, Gadkari confirmed that a 10 percent biodiesel blend will soon be introduced in India as part of the broader plan to transition away from conventional diesel.

This announcement comes in the backdrop of India’s growing automobile sector, which has recently overtaken Japan to become the world’s third-largest car market. While the industry is a major contributor to GST and provides employment to over 4.5 crore people, it also accounts for nearly 40 percent of air pollution by some estimates. The shift to biodiesel is being positioned as a necessary countermeasure, with isobutanol also being explored as a diesel alternative.

Gadkari pointed to one success already seen from the current biofuel push: the reduction in stubble burning. Farmers are increasingly supplying agricultural waste like rice straw for biofuel production, reducing air pollution and creating new income streams in rural areas.

Progress and Bottlenecks in Biodiesel Adoption

The National Policy on Biofuels (2018) set a target of 5 percent biodiesel blending with diesel by 2030. However, current blending levels remain low, reportedly around 0.6 percent in FY25. Gadkari’s statement about the upcoming 10 percent biodiesel blend appears to be a step toward fast-tracking this goal, though implementation remains uneven.

Meeting the 5 percent blending goal alone will require around ₹2,500 crore in investment, according to industry estimates. Key hurdles include limited infrastructure, inadequate incentives, and poor collection of used cooking oil - an essential raw material for biodiesel. Companies with integrated edible oil processing capacity are better placed to scale up biodiesel production, but wider sectoral participation is still lacking.

While ethanol blending in petrol has received substantial policy backing and investment, biodiesel continues to lag. The Centre has introduced several fiscal and logistical incentives, but the scale needed to push blending rates into double digits is far greater. Without clearer commitments from oil marketing companies and coordinated state-level support, achieving high biodiesel blending rates will remain a challenge.

Linking Biofuels to Rural Prosperity

For Gadkari, the biofuel narrative is not just environmental. He repeatedly positioned it as an economic strategy to revitalise India’s rural economy. The Minister cited ethanol production from maize as a successful case study, where the shift in agricultural demand led to maize prices doubling from ₹1,200 to ₹2,600 per quintal.

He introduced the “4 Es” framework—Ecology, Environment, Economy, and Ethics—to highlight how agriculture can be integrated into the energy value chain. He argued that if the agricultural GDP, currently at 12 to 14 percent, could match the industrial sector’s contribution, it would not only reduce India’s energy import bill (currently around 85 percent dependent on imports) but also redirect wealth towards farming communities.

Another example of this approach was the use of municipal waste in highway construction. Gadkari said that several cities are already using urban waste to lay roads, turning garbage into infrastructure and addressing twin problems of urban waste management and material cost inflation.

The Reality of Diesel Alternatives

Despite the optimism, technical and operational challenges remain. Ethanol has a lower energy density than petrol, reducing mileage per litre in blended fuels. Similar issues apply to biodiesel, which must be blended carefully to avoid engine performance issues. This calls for careful calibration of fuel blends and clear communication with automakers to ensure compatibility.

On a broader scale, diesel demand has grown steadily over the past decade, with a 4.3 percent year-on-year increase in 2024 alone. By 2030, India’s diesel consumption is expected to reach over 104 million tonnes. Without significant fuel diversification, this growth trajectory could undermine climate goals and strain the economy.

Gadkari’s concluding vision was aspirational: a future where farmers grow both food and fuel, helping power sectors ranging from aviation to construction. He said India’s real energy independence would come the day it no longer had to import fossil fuels.

For now, however, the success of this biodiesel push will depend less on slogans and more on sustained coordination between policymakers, farmers, fuel companies, and local governments. The road to higher biodiesel usage has been outlined. What remains is for all stakeholders to actually drive on it.