Company Name : Generic Source : The Times Of India

NEW DELHI: The government should increase the prices of Jatropha bio-diesel to Rs 36/litre to make the fuel sustainable and push the growth of the industry, industry body CII has said. 

The Jatropha bio-diesel is priced at Rs 26.50 per litre. "This price is not suitable for the growth of the industry and other stakeholders," a study by CII and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said. 

The present price, declared in the Bio-diesel Policy, should be reviewed and corrected realistically to sustain the investment and required growth of the bio-diesel sectors, it added. 

"The price of bio-diesel from Jatropha needs to be raised to Rs 36/litre from the present 26.50/litre to make it sustainable and for suitable growth of the Indian Bio-diesel industry," it said. 

The study said that the government should create a suitable policy framework they may include incentives, grants and the distribution mechanism to make the price self-sustainable. 

The policy framework could also have an average procurement price of Jatropha seeds at Rs 6,000 per tonne to ensure the people should not use agricultural land to grow fuel crops instead of foodgrains. 

"This will create a pull for bio-diesel demand to accelerate the development of the industry, which requires periodic revisits (bi-annually)," it added. 

It said doping 2 per cent bio-diesel extracted from Jatropha plant in diesel will help save around Rs 3,000 crore and will generate revenue of around Rs 5,500 crore in the rural economy with an opportunity of investment to the extent of Rs 1,700 crore on an annual basis. 

The initiative would also help in reduction of greenhouse gas emission by 3 million tonnes on an annual basis, the study said. 

Record fluctuation in the oil market pricing in recent years has created a security threat to India's crude oil imports and resulted in increased financial burden on the global economy. 

"To counter and mitigate the security threat in dieselised economy like India, bio-diesel may be used as a true supplement to fossil diesel with appropriate technological, financial and policy interventions," it said.