NEW DELHI: Giving a push to its ambitious coal and lignite gasification programme, govt Wednesday floated a request for proposal (RFP) inviting companies to set up projects under its Rs 37,500-crore incentive scheme.Launched in May, the scheme aims to support the gasification of 75 million tonnes (MT) of coal and lignite by 2030 to produce syngas, thereby reducing dependence on imports of LNG, urea, ammonia and methanol, and promoting self-reliance in the energy and chemicals sectors. Officials said they expect to select companies under the scheme within the next four months.RFP comes after Union cabinet approved the scheme in May and the ministry of coal issued the operational guidelines on June 25.To facilitate stakeholder participation and provide clarity on the scheme provisions and application process, the ministry will hold a pre-application conference on July 20.India currently imports nearly 85% of its crude oil requirement, around 90% of its methanol requirement and 13-15% of its ammonia requirement. The country’s import bill for key substitutable products — including liquefied natural gas, urea, ammonium nitrate, ammonia, coking coal, methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) — stood at nearly Rs 2.8 lakh crore in FY25.DME is considered a promising cleaner-burning substitute for LPG, with blends of up to 20% already permitted by the Bureau of Indian Standards for domestic, commercial and industrial use.Govt expects the scheme to attract investments of Rs 2.5-3 lakh crore across around 25 projects in coal-rich regions to gasify 75 MT of coal over the next five years.
