By Vikraman Venu, Senior Vice President – SAF and Strategic Partnerships, GPS Renewables
A recently released passenger traffic report by Airports Council International World and the International Civil Aviation Organization indicates that by 2030, the global passenger traffic is expected to exceed 12 billion, and this increase is primarily driven by growth in Asia-pacific and middle-east regions. This number is expected to double by 2042. With air traffic steadily increasing, the sector will continue to be one of the biggest contributors to global carbon emissions.
The global aviation industry has set a goal to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) will play a major role in achieving this goal, and many nations have already made great progress in scaling SAF production. India has a target of 1-2 per cent blended usage of SAF starting from 2027. As we move towards this goal, we need collaborative efforts to remove barriers to production, accelerate adoption and facilitate seamless transition towards clean energy.
Current scenario
As per estimates by International Air Transport Association, India has the capacity to produce 40 million metric tonnes of SAF by 2050. With its massive 230 million metric tonnes of available agri-residue feedstock, India can become a hotspot for the production of SAF. Currently, only major oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil and Bharat Petroleum are utilising used cooking oil (UCO) and refining bio crude for the production of SAF. Private players are yet to foray into the space.
In comparison to the global production scenario, India’s SAF output is currently negligible. Despite feedstock availability, there are multiple production challenges such as lack of feedstock aggregation, absence of required infrastructure for large scale refining and lack of policy support continue to be barriers to increasing production capacity.
IOCL has recently announced their plans to produce SAF from UCO. This is expected to be a co-refining project, where the existing refinery will use UCO as a feedstock and will be refined along with crude. We expect that the limited UCO available in India will be prioritiSed for the larger oil marketing companies, making green-field SAF projects from UCO unviable.
Barriers to production
The only commercially viable green-field pathway for SAF that has been implemented across the world is the Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) pathway. HEFA is a method of producing SAF from feedstock such as UCO or animal fats. HEFA Pathway is also considered as the most commercially viable and mature SAF production method.
One of the key issues currently in India’s SAF production landscape is the lack of a large UCO collection framework. Currently, state-wise availability of fats and waste oil is insufficient and unorganised for large-scale commercial SAF production. To scale up HEFA-based SAF production, there needs to be a consistent and centralised supply chain for the feedstock.
While lack of availability is one side of the problem, the other issue is the restrictions on import of UCO. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India prohibits the import of UCO, and this prevents India from sourcing feedstock from international markets that make up for domestic shortages with imported UCO.
Together, all the above factors create a bottleneck for feedstock availability which restricts India’s potential to mass produce SAF through HEFA pathway.
Competition from other countries
Another factor to consider is global competition from countries such as China, Indonesia and Malaysia which are key hubs for UCO. Most of these countries are reducing export of UCO and using it internally for production of SAF. As per Platts, the prices of UCO in North Asia recorded a 33 month high of $1,085 per metric tonne (MT) on July 25, 2025 from a low of $795 per MT on November 14, 2023. This is a clear indication of the increasing demand for UCO from SAF producers which has led to intense competition and tightening of supplies.
Potential solutions
- Explore other feedstock resources: Instead of focusing entirely on UCO, India can focus on other abundant biomass resources such as agri and forest residue.
- Relaxation of UCO import restrictions: Limiting restrictions on UCO import can help Indian players overcome domestic shortages
- Potential alternative pathways for SAF production include converting biomass into methanol, ethanol, sugars, or syngas, which can then be further processed into SAF—such as biomass-to-methanol-to-SAF, biomass-to-ethanol-to-SAF, biomass-to-sugars-to-ethanol-to-SAF, biomass-to-sugars-to-SAF, and biomass-to-syngas-to-bio-crude-to-SAF.
The way forward
India has an abundance of biomass resources which if capitalised well can allow us to be a leader in SAF production. As per estimates, India can produce 8 to 10 million tonnes of SAF every year by 2040. Our actual potential is way higher than the figures quoted. If we categorically address feedstock constraints, implement targeted policy incentives and introduce new pathways for production, India can be a significant contributor towards transition to sustainable aviation.
