The Niti-Ayog of central government is considering a proposal for suggesting the creation of a Methanol Economy Fund with a corpus of ₹4000-₹5000 crore.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Member, Niti Aayog, VK Saraswat said: “We are evaluating a ₹4,000 crore to ₹5,000 crore fund for developing Methanol as a fuel in India. We want to set up 3 to 4 methanol processing plants, out of which we expect at least one plant running in the next 3 years. For this, we will want to have a Methanol Economy Hub to be ready by mid next year.
”The Niti Aayog is going to propose a road map to achieve its target of increasing the penetration of Methanol as an alternative fuel to petrol and diesel by December end. Saraswat said: “The roadmap should be applicable from January 2018.”
Under the roadmap, the Aayog proposes ramping up facilities to convert Coal, Stranded Gas and Biomass to Methanol. Saraswat said, “The current installed capacity of Methanol production of the country is 0.47 million tonne and the total production of the Methanol in the country is 0.2 million tonne. But the total Methanol consumption of the country in 2016 is 1.8 million tonne.”“The country will need to develop a Methanol manufacturing capacity of around 3 to 4 million tonne to meet the expected demand,” he added.
