Vinod Khosla for ethanol imports

Venture capital investor and ethanol evangelist Vinod Khosla has strongly advocated import of ethanol from Brazil to make cleaner and cheaper fuel available for Indian consumers. Khosla has also recommended import duties on the new-age fuel on par with oil imports.

Visiting Pune for the first time after he invested Rs 100 crore for 10 per cent stake in city-based Praj Industries, Khosla elaborated his new-found inclination for cleaner technologies.

Khosla said the long-term estimated price of oil was at $50 per barrel and ethanol is economical when the crude prices crossed above $40 a barrel.

"The challenge for India now is to give freedom to consumer to choose the fuel he wants to buy," he said, adding freedom to import and an equal treatment on import duties with oil would encourage consumers.

The country will need cars that can run ethanol or mix of the two in any proportion, he observed.

Regarding the virtues of ethanol, Khosla said India had a huge potential to benefit from this if the per acre yield of ethanol was increased by developing technologies that will use non-food plants as feedstocks to extract ethanol.

"Companies like Praj Industries will have a significant role in this process of technology development," he stressed.

India should look at growing non-food crops that can be charged to make ethanol, he said, pointing out that if this was done the ethanol yield can increase five-fold.

Reacting to the mandate issued by the Indian government that requires oil companies to mix 5 per cent ethanol with petrol, Khosla added that this could have been kept flexible and ethanol content could be up to 10 per cent. "That would have made it possible to respond suitably to ethanol availability leading to cheaper fuel option for the consumer," he said.