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Informist, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025

MUMBAI – India's sugar sector can produce around 1.25–1.50 billion litres of sustainable aviation fuel by 2030 and holds the potential to meet over half of India's total demand for the fuel by 2040, the Indian Sugar and Bio-Energy Manufacturers Association said in a report on 'Green Horizon'. The sectors aims to achive this goal by using the surplus ethanol produced from food crops such as sugarcane, it said.

The association expects the sugar value chain to continue serving as the largest supplier of feedstock such as sugarcane and its derivatives for production of sustainable aviation fuel. The sector has the ability to produce 3.50-4.00 billion litres of sustainable aviation fuel from the surplus ethanol from the 1G (first generation ethanol) route alone by 2040, it said.

By 2030, the sugar sector can scale up its ethanol production capacity to 12 billion to 13 billion litres, with the net sugarcane production seen reaching 500 million to 550 million tonnes, driven by increasing overall sugarcane yield, according to the report. In ddition, the sugar sector also produces 100 million tonnes of bagasse annualy as a byproduct to sugar production, which can further be converted to 2G ethanol (second generation ethanol is a biofuel produced from non-food sources, such as agricultural residues like rice straw and sugarcane bagasse).

India is likely to lead global growth in air passenger traffic, with its aviation sector expected to grow 11-13% per annum until 2030. "According to Airport Council International-Asia Pacific, India will be the fastest-growing aviation market globally from 2023 to 2053." 

This is likely to boost demand for sustainable aviation fuel and increase the blending mandates to 1% of the international blending by 2027, 2% by 2028, and 5% to 2030, which is currently at 0%. According to estimates, India has the potential to produce 24.50 billion to 31.00 billion litres of sustainable aviation fuel annually, the report said. This is well above the country's requirement of 6.00 billion litres per annum, under a 15% blending scenario in domestic with carbon offsetting and reduction scheme for international aviation by 2040.

The association has urged the government for capital support, viability gap funding, regulatory steamlining and market-based incentives to unlock full scale development. The Indian sugar sector could help position the country as a regional hub for low-carbon aviation fuel, it said.  End

Reported by J. Navya Sruthi and Taniva Singha Roy

Edited by Avishek Dutta

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