New Delhi, May 29 -- India is likely to introduce a mandate for blending isobutanol with diesel later this year as part of efforts to improve energy security and decarbonise the road transport sector, Road Transport and Highways Secretary V Umashankar said on Friday.

Speaking at the CII Multimodal Transportation and Logistics Summit in New Delhi, Umashankar said the government is seriously examining diesel blending as diesel consumption in the country is nearly double that of petrol, making its impact on energy security significantly larger.

"Blending of diesel has been looked into with great seriousness. Bharat Petroleum is already undertaking strategic research for iso-butanol blending with diesel. And the results are very encouraging...