New Delhi [India], January 14 (ANI): Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep S Puri has said India is the front runner in mitigating climate change globally and is progressing fast on its energy transition agenda.
Speaking at the Auto Expo 2023, the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas said, “Today’s event marks the extent to which India is willing to innovate to keep its pledge of protecting the environment while simultaneously addressing the growing demand for energy.”
Hardeep Puri said, “For the automobile industry, the event will be an exposition of our technology, capability and vision of the mobility for tomorrow-safer, cleaner, connected and shared. For the visitor, it will be an experience of the mobility eco-system that is unfolding every day and offering better solutions for all our requirements.”
“It will also provide a platform for domestic and international investors and other stakeholders”, he said.
The Auto Expo- 2023 with the theme “Explore the World of Mobility” is being organised by the Automotive Components Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
“It will provide a unique opportunity to showcase India as both an engine of global economic growth and a driver for global consumption, supported by a conducive and investment-friendly environment, and a skilled workforce.”, emphasised Shri Hardeep S. Puri.
Talking about the progress made by India in terms of ethanol blending, the Minister said that the country has increased the ethanol blending in petrol from 1.53 per cent in 2013-14 to 10.17 per cent in 2022, which was well ahead of November 2022 deadline and advanced its target to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol from 2030 to 2025-26.
He said that this has resulted not only augmenting the country’s energy security but also translated into a forex savings of over Rs 41,500 crore, reduced GHG emissions and has benefitted farmers with expeditious payment of over Rs 40,600 crore made to farmers.
The Minister also mentioned the reduction in security deposit amount from 5 per cent to 1 per cent extending a benefit of around Rs 400 crore to ethanol suppliers for Ease of Doing Business and the reduction of the goods and services tax (GST) on bio-fuel from 18 per cent to 5 per cent.
The Minister said that the government was setting up five 2G ethanol bio-refineries in the country at Panipat (Parali) in Haryana, Bathinda in Punjab, Bargarh (Parali) in Odisha, Numaligarh (Bamboo) in Assam and Devangere in Karnataka.
“We are also launching a Global Alliance on biofuels, along with USA and Brazil during India’s Presidency of G20”, he said.
In his concluding remarks, the Minister invited all the stakeholders in energy sector to attend the India Energy Week (IEW) being held during February 6-8, 2023, at the Bangalore International Exhibition Center (BIEC), Bengaluru. (ANI)
