Policy Brief

Biofuel Promotion in India for Transport: Exploring the Grey Areas

07 Feb 2015

| Dr Kaushik Ranjan Bandyopadhyay

India happens to be the world's fourth largest energy consumer and a consumer of crude and petroleum products after the United States,China, and Japan. The net oil import dependency of India rose from 43 per cent in 1990 to 71 per cent in 2012 that resulted in a huge strain on the current account as well as the government exchequer. Transport sector accounts for the largest share (around 51 per cent) in terms of consumption of petroleum products in India. Nearly 70 per cent of diesel and 99.6 per cent petroleum are consumed by the transport sector and the demand is expected to grow at 6-8 per cent over the coming years in tandem with the rapidly expanding vehicle ownership.

Proliferation of Cars in Indian Cities: Let Us Not Ape the West

03 Jul 2014

| Ms Akshima Tejas Ghate

| Mr S Sundar

India currently has about 15 million cars, which is equivalent to 13 cars per 1,000 population. While this by itself is not high, it has to be noted that it is a national average and some cities like Delhi, Chennai, and Coimbatore have more than 100 cars per 1,000 population. Different estimates show that the number of cars in India will increase to about 35 cars per 1,000 population by 2025. This would amount to about 45-60 million cars on our roads and in some cities more than 300 cars per 1,000 population.