India: after ethanol, government pushes for biodiesel adoption to achieve B5 target by 2030

As reported in 2022, India’s government planned to impose an INR 2.00 penalty for each liter of diesel that did not contain biodiesel, as of April 2023 (see news article dated October 17, 2022).

However, due to the very limited availability of biodiesel in India, the implementation was delayed to April 1, 2025. Nevertheless, oil marketing companies (OMCs) continue purchasing and blending biodiesel, although at a very low percentage.

In March 2025, OMCs collectively launched a tender to purchase 200 million liters of biodiesel to be blended in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2025-2026. However, only 3.5 million liters (from one producer) were committed for the supply from April to June 2025.

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