New Delhi, Nov 4 Airlines will soon have to start mandatory blending of sustainable aviation fuel, starting with 1 per cent from 2027, and at least 90 per cent of the annual SAF requirement for international flights must be sourced from India, according to a draft policy.
The civil aviation ministry has circulated the draft National Policy on Sustainable Aviation Fuels which mandates use of only indigenously manufactured SAF to be blended with Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF).
Taxation support, including GST exemption or reduction, as well as viability gap funding, green financing instruments and refinery retrofitting support, among other measures, would be considered to incentivise SAF production.
The proposal is to implement blending in two phases—the first from 2027 to 2030, when the quantum will increase from 1 per cent to 5 per cent, and the second, from 2031 to 2040, when the quantum will rise to 40 per cent.
Also, the government plans to set up a dedicated SAF Innovation Seed Fund to support pilot projects, indigenous technology development, feedstock optimisation, lifecycle assessment studies and incubation support for startups and technology developers working on advanced SAF pathways.
To prevent “economic tankering”, the ministry has proposed that Indian and foreign airlines operating international services have to mandatorily “uplift a minimum of 90 per cent of their annual sector aviation fuel from the international airports in India”.
Generally, ‘economic tankering’ refers to airlines taking more fuel at the departure airport if the fuel cost is higher at the destination airport.
Fuel requirement will be calculated based on the fuel required for the trip and fuel required for the taxi, and the same will exclude contingency, alternate reserve and additional fuel as approved by the aviation regulator, DGCA.
The ministry has proposed that “fiscal and taxation support, including GST exemption or reduction, import duty waivers, income-tax holidays, and accelerated depreciation, as may be considered appropriate by the relevant ministries and departments”.
India’s annual ATF consumption is expected to touch nearly 14.2 million tonnes by 2030 from 8.2 million tonnes at present. The country has the potential to produce about 10 million tonnes of SAF annually by 2040, which will require investments of USD 70-85 billion, as per the estimates in the draft policy.
The feedstocks for SAF can include surplus agricultural residues, used cooking oil, municipal solid waste, industrial waste streams, and renewable fuels of non-biological origin.
A comprehensive ecosystem comprising sustainability certification systems, chain-ofcustody mechanisms, viability gap funding, green financing instruments, refinery retrofitting support, and airport infrastructure readiness is proposed to facilitate large scale deployment of SAF across the aviation value chain, the draft policy said.
Besides, the National Council on Sustainable Aviation Fuel (NC-SAF) is proposed to be established, which will work as an apex body to ensure coordinated, transparent, and effective implementation of the country’s SAF policy.
“SAF Registry, under the aegis of DGCA, shall be established as a national digital platform to record, track, and verify all SAF-related transactions, ensuring transparency, accountability, and interoperability with domestic and international carbon markets,” the draft policy said. SAF is a drop-in fuel that is compatible with ATF.
(PTI News)
