Why Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme Didn't Take Off? – A Review on Policy as a Barrier
2014
Priyanka, P Asha | Chandrasekaran, M. | Nandakumar, E.
India had imported nearly 238 billion litres of annual crude petroleum whereas the expenditure stood around $144 billion during the year 2012/13 which is higher by three per cent over the previous year. It also has to face the problem of air pollution as transport sectors contribute a major share of 70 per cent to environmental air pollution. Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) can be a real solution to the above challenges of India. Indian has revised the policy to blend ethanol with petrol several times and even put forth as National Biofuel Policy. But these path breaking policies failed to result as expected. This study has attempted to discuss the lacunas in policy briefly. The presence of sales tax, license fee, permit fee and import taxes still exist, hindering the growth and development of the industry. Though Government of India has listed sweet corn and sugar beet in National Biofuel Policy, it has not laid a roadmap for supply of ethanol from these. Then there are price fixing issues that destabilise the EBP programme. And of all the National Biofuel Policy lacks the grim in it as the penalties for defaulters are never imposed. If molasses has to meet the entire requirement of 10 per cent blending, it requires doubling of both area and production of sugarcane which may curb the area under other food crops. Thus the question on food sustainability rises. A policy decision for EBP should factor in all these uncertainties. Any half-hearted effort will not benefit any stakeholder in the business including the consumer.
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