Draft policy suggests biofuel tax breaks

India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, in the draft National Policy on biofuels, has proposed to exempt plant and machinery to be used for processing oil seeds for biofuel production from customs duty and excise duty. In addition, the draft policy proposes to exempt ethanol and biodiesel in pure and blended form in order to lower the selling price of biofuels. However, later reports indicate that the Department of Revenue within the Union Ministry of Finance opposes the latter proposal. The draft policy also proposes the establishment of a National Biofuel Development Board to fix the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for non-edible vegetable oil seeds, such as jatropha. (October 23, 2006)