Ban diesel four-wheelers in India's big cities by 2027, says energy transition panel

India should ban diesel-powered four-wheelers in all cities with a million-plus population by 2027, and more than double the share of grid power in the national energy basket to 40% by 2035, the Energy Transition Advisory Committee of the petroleum ministry said in its final report.

The committee recommended setting up a group of ministers from the ministries supervising energy supply, such as petroleum, coal, power and renewables, and a larger committee of secretaries that would also include members from the ministries overseeing energy consumption. "This set-up should orchestrate creation of the roadmap and help it get adopted along with the stakeholders," the report said.

The Energy Transition Advisory Committee was set up with former petroleum secretary Tarun Kapoor as its head and executives from state-run oil companies and an oil ministry official as members. After Kapoor took over as an adviser to the Prime Minister last year, former ONGC chairman Subhash Kumar led the team in completing the report and submitting it to the petroleum ministry.


"Howsoever hard we may wish the transition to be just and orderly, it's likely to be disruptive, and painful for those caught napping. However, those who plan and prepare will be well-placed to adapt to the changes and will be able to capitalise on the new opportunities," Subhash Kumar told ET.

The overall direction for surface transport has to be in favour of EVs, the report said. "Diesel-driven four-wheelers may be eliminated as soon as possible. Therefore, a ban on diesel-powered four-wheelers in all million-plus cities and all towns with high pollution has to be enforced in five years, i.e. by 2027," the report said, adding that no diesel-powered city buses should be added in urban areas.

From 2024, all new registrations for city delivery vehicles should be only electric so that in the next 10 years, 75% of the city delivery vehicles can be electric in all the million-plus cities, the report said.

The share of railways, which is aggressively electrifying its tracks, should rise to 50% in national freight in 15 years from the current 23%, the committee said.

The share of grid power in India's final energy consumption must rise to 40% from 18%, as a "wider use of electricity will translate into a shift towards greater use in transport, cooking and industrial applications", the report said. The target should be to have 25% of households using electricity for cooking by 2030, it added.

LPG, the dominant cooking fuel in the country, should be blended with alternatives such as compressed biogas and hydrogen, as per the report.

The committee also suggested setting up natural gas storage facilities that could meet up to two months of national consumption. India should develop its own gas price reference index on the lines of the Japan-Korea Marker, the spot LNG benchmark for North Asia, it said, arguing that it may help serve as a regional index and eventually help mitigate price volatility.