Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednseday said the country's nascent bio-fuel industry has the potential to develop into a flourishing Rs 1 lakh crore market in the coming years.The minister said 1-G and 2-G ethanol, bio-diesel, MSW (municipal solid waste) to fuel and bio-CNG together with methanol (DME) have huge potential in augmenting economic growth, generating employment and doubling farmers' income.Addressing a consultative workshop on New National Policy on Bio-fuels and Pradhan Mantri Ji-Van Yojana (Viability Gap Funding for 2nd Generation Ethanol Bio Refineries), he said this will be instrumental in achieving the government's target of 10 per cent import reduction by 2022.
Pradhan said during the workshop, many constructive suggestions related to feedstock management, technology, capacity augmentation, fiscal incentives and supply chain management were received.During the day long workshop, five working groups on 1-G Ethanol, 2-G Ethanol, bio-diesel, waste to fuel and bio-CNG deliberated issues related to their segment in detail and came up with many constructive suggestions and inputs, a Petroleum Ministry release said here.