Days before the national biofuel policy is taken up by the Union Cabinet, the Confederation of Indian Industries has demanded incorporation of enough "flexibility in the biofuel blending mandate" based on the availability of such fuels.

"We have asked for a flexible mandate to be enacted, taking into consideration the availability of biofuels in different states or regions," said Pramod Chaudhary, head of the CII committee on biofuels.

This availability had to be declared twice a year or at least annually, or the the policy would remain useless, he added.

The apex body also shared its recommendations with the group of ministers, which finalised the policy recently.

Assigning the delay in finalising of the policy to lack of availability of data, he added that the CII had demanded proper documentation of demand and supply mismatches of biofuels in the country to accommodate a proper transportation model for biofuels across the states.

While states like UP and Maharashtra contribute to a major chunk of the biofuels production in the country, some states like MP and West Bengal still lack enough pockets of production.

To facilitate smooth inter-state sale and purchase of biofuels, the CII has also recommended 'declared goods' status for them with reduced duties and levies.

Chaudhary also expressed his concerns about the ability of oil marketing companies to meet the October deadline of 10 per cent blending mandate in ethanol imposed by the government.

"The companies are already finding it difficult to accommodate 5 per cent blending of ethanol. There's not enough bioethanol available for a 10 per cent blending target to be achieved by October," he said.

While the country currently produces about 220 crore (2.2 billion) litres of bio-ethanol, meeting the 10 per cent blending mandate would require augmenting ethanol production by another 100 crore (1 billion) litres.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has, however, rejected the argument. "We have enough infrastructure available to increase production to levels by which we can realise the 10 per cent blending target by October," said a senior official from the ministry.

The CII's other proposals on biofuel policy made to the GoM include greater focus on alternate feed stocks like Sorghum for ethanol extraction and Safflower for biodiesel.