PM Modi bats for more RE and less fossil fuel or gas-based economy

In the first of 12 post-Budget webinars by the Centre, prime minister Narendra Modi addressed the stakeholders and government departments on “Green Growth”. The webinar hosted by the power ministry will focus on both energy and non-energy components of green growth.

The PM said the strategy for green growth stands on three pillars. “First, increasing the production of renewable energy; second, reducing the use of fossil fuel in the economy; and finally, rapidly moving towards a gas-based economy in the country,” he said, adding that over the years, several schemes such as ethanol blending, PM KUSUM Yojana, incentives for solar manufacturing, rooftop solar scheme, coal gasification, and battery storage have been a step in the right direction.

“India has a commanding position in the renewable energy space and will ensure a commensurate change in the world. This Budget will play a key role in establishing India as a lead player in the global green energy market. That is why, today, I invite every stakeholder of the energy world to invest in India”, Modi said.

Talking about India’s achievements in the green energy sector, he said the country has already achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol five months before time, and 40 per cent non-fossil fuel electricity generation has been achieved nine years in advance.

He said the government’s focus is on biofuels, and it will open new investment opportunities. “The potential of solar, wind and biogas in India is no less than any gold mine or oil field for our private sector. India is moving with a target of production of 5 MMT green hydrogen. An allocation of Rs 19,000 crore has been made to incentivise the private sector in this field for electrolyser manufacturing, green steel manufacturing and long-haul fuel cells etc,” the PM said.

The PM also highlighted that India could produce 10,000 million cubic metres of biogas from cow dung and 150,000 cubic metres of gas, contributing up to 8 per cent to the city gas distribution in the country. “Because of these possibilities, today the Gobardhan Yojana is an important component of India’s biofuel strategy. In this Budget, the government has announced plans to set up 500 new plants under the Gobardhan Yojana. The government will spend Rs 10,000 crore on these modern plants”, he added.

The PM also mentioned India’s vehicle scrapping policy in his address as a crucial part of the green growth strategy. “The government has made provisions of Rs 3000 crore in this year’s Budget to scrap around 300,000 vehicles owned by Central and state governments that are older than 15 years including police vehicles, ambulances and buses. Vehicle scrapping is going to become a huge market and gives new strength to our circular economy,” he said.