Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of petroleum and natural gas, has invited US businesses to deploy technology, capital and new business models and participate in India’s bio-fuel revolution. Speaking at the ‘2nd Annual India Leadership Summit’ of the US-India strategic partnership forum, the minister revealed that India is working on pushing its ethanol blending percentage further from 6 percent. Thus, focusing on ways to monetise the 600MT of non-fossilised biomass available in the country.

In a conversation with Tim Roemer, former ambassador of US to India, Dharmendra Pradan said, “I invite all energy players to bring their technology and investment here and become a part of India's growth story.” He said that India has moved to open, transparent, process-driven policy atmosphere, and all are welcome to invest. The investing companies must bring technology, capital and good business models to India.

Speaking about India’s efforts towards decarbonisation, he said, “India is expanding its footprints in carbon-free energy, including renewables and bio-energy. Technology and innovation can become game changers for India's quest for decarbonising and developing into a gas-based economy for a cleaner and sustainable energy future. India had set an ambitious target of producing 175 GW energy through renewable energy sources which has been further enhanced to 450 GW.”

Dwelling upon the issues of ethanol and bio-energy, he further added, “10 billion dollars investment is to be made in setting up ethanol plants in the country. The US can collaborate with us through deployment of its technological innovations and capital resources in India and become partner in India’s bio-fuel revolution.”

Talking about India-US partnership, Minister Pradhan said, “Energy is increasingly an important component of our bilateral trade. Our crude oil import from USA was almost nil in 2014. Now, the total import of petroleum products from USA including LNG in 2018-19 stood at over 7 billion dollars, and is likely to go up further this year.”

Image Courtesy Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Twitter account

Also read: Dharmendra Pradhan calls for petroleum products to be brought under GST ambit