Overview
- CSIR handed production licences to multiple Indian manufacturers at a technology-transfer event in New Delhi, moving the bio-bitumen initiative from R&D to commercial deployment.
- The indigenous binder, developed by CSIR-CRRI and CSIR-IIP, is produced by pyrolysing crop residues such as paddy straw and is designed to be blended with conventional bitumen.
- A 100-metre trial stretch on the Jorabat–Shillong Expressway (NH-40) in Meghalaya demonstrated field feasibility, complementing lab and pilot tests that officials say met durability benchmarks.
- Ministers said 15% blending could save about ₹4,500 crore in foreign exchange, with wider substitution targeting imported bitumen valued at ₹25,000–30,000 crore annually.
- CSIR leaders said a patent has been filed and multiple industries have been onboarded for deployment, while asserting that India is the first to take bio-bitumen to industrial and commercial scale.