India will soon be zero petroleum import country, says Nitin Gadkari

The Dollar Business Bureau 

India is focussing more on developing alternative fuel economy and will soon stop importing petroleum products, Central Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. He was speaking at a conference organised by Niti Aayog. The main theme of the conference was Methanol Economy. Inaugurating the International seminar  on India’s leap into Methanol Economy, there were policy makers from road transport to petroleum ministry to Niti Aayog who gathered to discuss and deliberate. 

Speaking at the inauguration Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that govt aims for zero imports of petroleum and focus are on the use of bio mass as a source of energy which will boost the rural economy. Vice Chairman Niti Aayog, Arvind Panagriya said, “climate change was a big issue at the recently concluded G20 Summit and India will have to do more in near future in which the use of methane can help.” 

He also said that Niti Aayog has already constituted an expert committee group on the use of methanol in the country. 

Methanol Economy is a suggested future economy in which methanol and dimethyl ether replace fossil fuel as a means of energy storage, ground transportation fuel and raw material for synthetic hydrocarbons and their products. It is an ideal alternative to hydrogen economy or ethanol economy.