India plans to step up use of biofuels

India aims to increase the use of biofuels to cut its oil import bill by 120 billion rupees ($1.7bn) by 2022 and reduce carbon emissions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday. India is the world’s third-biggest oil importer and consumer and ships in about 80% of its crude needs, but is gradually building capacity to increase its output of biofuels. It plans to build 12 biorefineries to produce fuel from items including crop stubble, plant waste and solid waste, Modi said.