Overview
- At the India Sustainable Aviation Fuel Summit in New Delhi, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu said a national SAF policy will be released soon.
- New blending goals call for 1% SAF in jet fuel by 2027, 2% by 2028 and 5% by 2030, with the fuel usable as a drop‑in replacement for conventional ATF.
- IATA cautioned that a blending mandate without incentives would hurt airlines and urged policy support for production first, noting ATF already comprises about 44% of Indian carriers’ operating costs.
- Officials highlighted domestic feedstock potential of roughly 750 million tonnes of biomass and about 213 million tonnes of surplus farm residue, alongside an Airbus–Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya research pact on waste‑to‑SAF and a FICCI–KPMG report release.
- Government projections cite annual crude import savings of USD 5–7 billion, over one million green jobs and 10–15% higher farm incomes, with global SAF demand estimated to reach 183 million tonnes by 2040 and India’s ATF use seen at 15–16 million tonnes by 2030.