Highways minister Nitin Gadkari will ask the petroleum ministry to set up ethanol pumps in the country in a bid to make India’s ethanol economy Rs 2 lakh crore in size.
The move will open up opportunities for sugarcane farmers in the country and create jobs in the agriculture sector, Gadkari said.
“This new initiative will reduce our imports, create jobs. There will be a good market for exports also,” Gadkari said.
Gadkari, who is also the minister of micro small and medium enterprises, was speaking at the launch of TVS’s ethanol based motorcycle here on Friday.
Gadkari said that the Rs. 7 lakh crore fuel import bill of the country will come down significantly with the help of mass use of bio-fuel.
He said that so far the petroleum ministry was not willing to allow setting up of petrol pumps because automobile manufacturers were not using ethanol as fuel.
“I will immediately move the note to petroleum ministry now, and take Niti Aayog on board for this,” Gadkari said.
