India’s Biodiesel Programme: A Pathway for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Employment Generation and Inclusiveness

Abstract

This paper seeks to address whether India’s biodiesel programme would create sustainable entrepreneurship opportunities in the long run, whether it is inclusive in nature and what would be its impact in terms of employment generation. Using the available primary and secondary evidences it is estimated that a 20 per cent biofuel blending through domestic feedstock production would create up to 14.45 million sustainable entrepreneurs, primarily micro and small entrepreneurs, and 331.17 million man-days, mostly for unskilled or semi-skilled people, per year by 2025. The two most important factors that restrain the success of the programme are uncertainties in yield and fluctuating seed prices for the farmers as the latter is linked to global crude prices. It suggests fixing minimum support prices for seeds and stabilising yield at a higher level through R&D, particularly with the Government initiatives.