NEW DELHI: India’s shift towards alternative fuels, principally high-energy density biofuels such as methanol, ethanol and butanol is unavoidable, with work already at an advanced stage for sustainability and energy security, a top government advisor said.
“Ethanol is one hydrocarbon, but you can also get other biofuels which have higher energy density like butanol that can also be produced in a bio-mode; so biofuels, in general, will be important for energy security,” India’s Principal Scientific Advisor Ajay Sood told ETEnergyWorld.
Further, he said that India has already developed and transferred the technology for biodiesel and bio-jet fuel.
Last year, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research–Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR–IIP) in Dehradun developed homegrown technologies to produce biodiesel and bio-jet fuel from non-edible vegetable oils, waste oils, used cooking oil, and agricultural waste.
Currently, the institute has developed and transferred nearly 50 technologies for commercial-scale production, aiming to reduce carbon emissions.
“The other big thing will be green hydrogen. It will be used for transportation. We already have India’s first hydrogen-powered train,” Sood added.
On July 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged-off the country’s first hydrogen-driven train, operating on the 89-kilometer Jind-Sonipat route.
The Indian Railways is planning to increase the speed limit to up to 110 kmph, from the present 75 kmph. Country’s first indigenous hydrogen fuel cell trainset has a total propulsion power of 2,400 kW from the onboard fuel cells, with no carbon dioxide output, having pure water vapor as the sole byproduct.
Sood also said that while focussing on sustainability, pricing for biofuels should be rationalised to boost adoption. The Centre, he said, had also unveiled a biogasification programme.
In 2018, the NDA government launched the GOBARdhan Scheme or Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan, formally known as the National Circular Bioenergy Scheme. The Union Cabinet approved a revamp of this scheme in August this year, allocating a total outlay of ₹23,731 crore from FY 2026–27 to FY 2035–36.
In January 2026, India’s non-fossil fuel energy capacity reached 271.97 GW, accounting for 52.3 per cent of the country’s total installed power, as a part of the country’s economic and environmental strategy for energy security.
Industry estimates suggest that by 2027 worldwide biofuel production is expected to supply 5.4 per cent of the world’s transportation fuels, including 1 per cent of aviation fuel.
