At the 6th Agri-Business Conclave and Awards, Dr. Perminder Jit Kaur, Assistant Professor at Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management, spoke on India’s untapped bioenergy potential. She emphasised the need for systemic solutions, multi-stakeholder engagement, and innovation to harness the immense volume of agricultural residue generated annually across India.
“India’s agricultural landscape is unique. Every year, our farmers are producing more than 230 million tonnes of agro-residue. This amount is huge. There is a huge opportunity for business here—but we are missing it,” she stated.
Despite this abundance, India continues to face dual challenges: energy shortages and waste management issues, most visibly reflected in the annual phenomenon of stubble burning in northern states like Punjab and Haryana. This paradox of surplus and scarcity prompted Dr. Kaur’s research team to explore the technical, institutional, and financial barriers that prevent the efficient utilisation of agro-residue.
“Our study was set to answer a critical question: What are the technical, institutional, and financial barriers? Why are we not able to utilise such a huge amount of agro-residue available at our end?”
Dr. Kaur’s study employed a systems-thinking framework, identifying seven core stakeholders in the bioenergy value chain: Biomass growers (farmers), Industrial buyers, Research institutions, Bioenergy and biofuel producers, End consumers, Vehicle and equipment manufacturers and Policy regulators.
This integrated perspective was built on the 3D model of sustainability, grounded in the pillars of People, Planet, and Profit.
The findings of her study revealed critical disconnections in the value chain. On one hand, farmers struggle with storage issues due to the sheer volume of biomass and the absence of proper infrastructure or intermediaries. On the other hand, industries are uncertain about sourcing, often unaware of how or where to procure agricultural residue.
“There is a lack of those middlemen who can connect the farmers with the industry,” she explained. “Storage is an issue at the farmers’ end, and the majority of the industries say that they don’t know whom to approach or from where they can buy those crops.”
While there are pockets of innovation, such as companies that compact and supply biomass in the form of briquettes, these efforts remain limited in scale. Dr. Kaur sees enormous potential for green growth and entrepreneurship by bridging the farmer-industry gap.
“There is a huge opportunity for green growth and entrepreneurship in this area where we can connect the farmers with industries,” she emphasised.
The move toward 20% ethanol blending in fuel marks a significant milestone for India. However, Dr. Kaur warned of an emerging concern: the toxicity of ethanol, which existing internal combustion engines (ICEs) are not equipped to handle.
“As we are increasing the ethanol blending, ethanol is toxic. So there is a need to develop new materials which can bear the toxicity of ethanol,” she said.
This calls for a pull-based innovation approach, encouraging R&D in materials science and automotive engineering to support the biofuel transition. Moreover, she urged stakeholders to look beyond production and consider the environmental footprint of the entire value chain.
“It should not happen that we are producing the biofuel at one point and then transporting it to another point, which again leads to CO₂ emissions. So the value chain analysis is equally important.”
Dr. Kaur’s policy recommendations focused on the need for systemic interventions to unlock the full potential of India’s bioenergy sector. She emphasised the importance of strengthening linkages between farmers and industries to ensure a seamless flow of biomass from production to utilisation. Logistics and infrastructure investment were identified as a critical step to address the challenges of storage, transportation, and supply chain inefficiencies. Additionally, she advocated for expanding the feedstock base under India’s biofuel policy to include a wider range of agricultural residues and organic waste. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) were highlighted as a means to attract investment, foster innovation, and build robust market mechanisms. Above all, she stressed that environmental sustainability must remain at the forefront of all initiatives, ensuring that the bioenergy transition does not replicate the same ecological costs it seeks to mitigate.
Her vision was not limited to India alone. Dr. Kaur highlighted the potential for South-South cooperation, particularly with African nations, many of which also produce large volumes of agro-residue.
“Agri-business partnerships are the key to unlocking India’s bioenergy future. Africa has to contribute because Africa is also a huge agro-residue-producing region. By working together, both India and Africa can transform agricultural waste into energy, reduce stubble burning, and drive sustainable rural development.”
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