The India Biofuels Company aims to build a world class commercial biofuels company in India in the

coming decade. BFC believes this project meets India's development priorities including:

Reduction of poverty and generation of employment in rural areas

Foreign Direct Investment
Urban and rural environmental amelioration
Development of agro-industry including downstream value-added processing
Import substitution
Foreign exchange savings
Leadership in emerging 21st century environmental technologies
Leadership in implementation of Kyoto Accords

POLICY

i) improving efficiency of the traditional

biomass use (e.g. improved cook-stove programme), ii) improving the supply of biomass (e.g.
social forestry, wasteland development), iii) technologies for improving the quality of biomass
use (e.g. biogas, improved cook-stoves), iv) introduction of biomass based technologies
(wood gasifiers for irrigation, biomass electricity generation) to deliver services provided by
conventional energy sources, and v) establishing institutional support for programme
formulation and implementation. The institutional response resulted in establishment of
DNES (Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources) in 1982 and state level nodal
energy agencies during the early 1980s decade.

http://biofuels.einnews.com/

General Motors' Indian subsidiary and the US Department of Energy are

collaborating with an Indian research institute to explore the use of Jatropha for
large scale production of biodiesel.

Talking to a business daily, GM India's President Karl Sylm said that his company is seriously
considering large scale Jatropha plantation and biodiesel production for automobiles. The
company has identified 83 acres of land in the western state of Gujarat and the formal
announcement of partnership with the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute is
expected soon.

The company has a factory in Talegaon, Maharashtra where it experimented with Jatropha
plantation over an acre of land. The pilot project was aimed at understanding the technology,
yield and other characteristics of Jatropha-based biodiesel. Mr. Slym did not disclose the results
of the project in his interview but looking at the company's plans it seems that GM is gearing up
for a much larger presence in the biofuels sector in India.

The biofuels sector in India is in its early stage of evolution. Although there are enormous
biomass resources and the government has a biofuels policy in place, the management and
administrative part of the implementation of that policy is a major hurdle. According to the
government policy, no edible crops can be used for biofuel production. This is an important part
of the policy since the country is yet to recover from the food crisis of 2009 and people are still
struggling in the face of sky-rocketing food inflation.

It is evident that the American and Brazilian ways of biofuel production from edible crops like
maize, corn and sugarcane would fail drastically in India and the government recognizes that.
Therefore, it has turned to Jatropha for large scale biofuel production. Jatropha is a non-edible
crop that can be grown on wasteland which solves the issue of agricultural land being
excessively used for biofuel crops instead of food crops.

But a major problem in India is the procurement of land. The government had to face fierce
resistance from social groups when it tried to free up land to set up Special Economic Zones
throughout the country for stimulating economic growth and attracting investments.

With algal-based biofuels still at the research stage, biofuels from non-food crops seems the only
way India could move ahead with the implementation of its biofuels policy. And General Motors
is planning to make the most of this opportunity. While refusing to confirm the launch of
biofuel-based automobiles in the near future, Mr. Slym said that his 'company is keen to explore
alternative fuels for Indian roads in the future'.

PolicyBiodiesel in India

Indian BioFuel Policy was finally announced on 23rd Dec 2009. It gives a rough guideline, which
was actually proposed many years back. Main stumbling blocks are still not resolved. There are
no Figures or Financial commitments. Some of the points are

1. Plantations of trees bearing non-edible oilseeds will be taken up on Government /

Community wasteland, degraded or fallow land in forest and non forest areas. Contract
farming on private wasteland could also be taken up through the Minimum Support Price
mechanism proposed in the Policy. Plantations on agricultural lands will be discouraged.
2. A major instrument of this Policy is that a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for oilseeds
should be announced and implemented with a provision for its periodic revision so as to
ensure a fair price to the farmers. The details about implementation of the MSP
mechanism will be worked out carefully after due consultations with concerned
Government agencies, States and other stakeholders.
3. Employment provided in plantations of trees and shrub bearing non edible oilseeds will
be made eligible for coverage under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program
(NREGP).
4. The Minimum Purchase Price (MPP) for bio-diesel by the Oil Marketing Companies
(OMCs) will be linked to the prevailing retail diesel price.
5. Financial incentives, including subsidies and grants, may be considered upon merit for
new and second generation feed stocks, advanced technologies and conversion processes;
and, production units based on new and second generation feed stocks.
6. Bio-ethanol already enjoys concessional excise duty of 16% and biodiesel is exempted
from excise duty. No other Central taxes and duties are proposed to be levied on bio-
diesel and bio-ethanol.
7. Import of Free Fatty Acid (FFA) oils will not be permitted for production of biofuels.