Delivering the keynote address at a Special Conference on “Research & Development in Fuel Sector” organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) in partnership with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), PETROTECH – 2014, India’s largest oil and gas conference and exhibition, under the aegis of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dr Saumitra Chaudhuri, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India, said, “This is a multi-dimensional complex issue as petroleum products in the country are priced in a manner where producers are not able to recover their costs. In addition the automotive fuel mix with diesel to gasoline in the ratio is 1:4 depsite the considerablee progress that has been witnessed in diesel vehicular efficiency. Nonetheless, a roadmap has been put in place which has brought in different grades of fuel efficiency in a thematic fashion. As technology takes a long term view, it may take time before Bharat Stage (BS) IV will be uniformaly applicable across the country.” On the alternative fuels segment, he said, “Options like electric vehicles and hybrids could be considered. However, for all these options, public transport like buses are the low hanging fruit which needs to be capitalised upon in the initial stage. Another solution that could be replicated in other states is the use of CNG in buses. Given the price and shortage of gas this maybe an expensive option but Delhi for instance has the largest fleet of CNG buses.”
Emphasising on the need for R&D in the sector, Mr LN Gupta, Secretary, Oil Industry Development Board said, “Between 2005 and 2010, oil companies in the country invested a huge sum of Rs 30,000 crores for improvement projects to make fuel available for BS IV norms and BS IV norms were implemented in 13 cities across the country in April 2010.” He further added, “The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas now intends to expand the BS IV auto fuels to 50 more cities by 2015 of which BS IV fuel has already been implemented in 26 cities. Cautioning on the need to undertake a cost benefit analysis to move to Euro V norms, he said, “There is a huge additional cost of further fuel upgradation (estimated at Rs 80,000 crores to move to Euro V) vis-à-vis the additional advantage.”
In the course of his remarks, Mr Harjeet Singh, Chairman, SIAM Two Wheelers Group & Vice President, Hero Moto Corp, said, “Indian 2 wheelers are the most efficient globally and with penetration levels in the country at only 91/1000, there is a huge growth potential in this sector.” On the fuel efficiency norms, he said, “BS-IV fuel is a must for emission durability. For transition to BSV norms, the Indian future norms should take care of India’s issues of environment and Energy Security and accordingly the EU norms should be adjusted for the Indian scenario and the implementation should be done over a period of 5 years after BS-IV.”
Mr IV Rao, Co-Chairman, SIAM Council on National and International Regulations & Executive Advisor, Maruti Suzuki India Limited said, “Fuel and Emission improvement have gone hand in hand through a series of emission legislations in India. However, as we move forward to BSV and beyond, some prerequisites which would need to be met include the need for One Nation One Fuel One Norm; fuel sulfur of 10PPM and the need for proper lead times between different stages of norms implementation from BSIV to BSVI.” On the policy front, he said, “India will need to adopt a Phase-IN of regulation and the policy needs to facilitate a smooth transition and trouble free aftermarket experience.”
Giving his perspective, Dr Sudhir Kapur, Member, CII National Committee on Technology & Managing Director, Country Strategy Business Consulting, in his welcome remarks said, “Oil imports are going to continue to account for a major part of our import bills. Given the growing concerns to lower the carbon footprint and to enhance the nation’s energy security, R&D in the are of fuel conservation/fuel efficiency will be critical. In the alternate fuel segment, biofuels are going to be an important component of our fuel policy as we move forward first with 5 per cent and then move on to 20 per cent blending by 2017.”