South Asian Business news and information

India is one of the most rapidly industrialized countries in South Asia. Fuel is the most important element behind industrialization. India does not produce much oil, it mainly imports oil from other countries. The price rise of oil in the global market also has serious influence on Indian economy. In order to meet the growing demand of the country, India is now going for ethanol blended oil. I am quoting from the report published in earthtimes:

India says it plans to increase the amount of ethanol blended with gasoline from 5 percent to 10 percent. Measures have been taken to make auto fuels environment-friendly and the introduction of ethanol-blended petrol would also bring more income to the farmers, said Murli Deora, India ' s petroleum and natural gas minister, while inaugurating the Petrotech-2007 conference. Deora said that during the current year, his ministry would implement 5 percent ethanol blending by procuring an estimated 145 million gallons of ethanol. We plan to enhance this program to 10 percent blend as early as possible, Deora said.

Indian economy is growing at a rate of 8%-9% per year. At present, the country imports 70 percent of its hydrocarbons from abroad. The government mainly absorbs the difference between buying price and selling price. As a result, rise in the oil price can cause serious trouble for India.  Few years ago, India has adopted Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) for transport. In the beginning phase, government would start ethanol blending project in nine states: Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Goa.

In order to meet the growing demands of fuel many countries are now using various alternatives for fuel. India is also going to that direction. However, finding alternatives is not enough. At the same time, Indian government should think about the country’s environment and people’s buying capacity.

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