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The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas celebrated 'World Biofuel Day' on Monday with Minister Dhramendra Pradhan announcing the availability of high-speed diesel(HSD) blended with bio-diesel at select outlets around the country. This is the first name in india that biofuel-blended diesel will be sold in retail outlets. ``Diesel was first used 122 years ago in 1893,and today we are announcing thatbio-diesel will be available in the market,`` Mr.Pradhan said at the event in Delhi. ``If,at the moment,we blend each litre of diesel with 5 percent of bio-diesel,then we would need 3.5 million tonnes of bio-diesel per year.The current capacity is of 1 million tinnes,``he said. Recently, the Ministry had permitted the sale of bio-diesel to bulk consumers such as the Railways,shipping and road transport corporations.''Bio-diesel can be made through a lot of biomass material.Currently,most of this material is considered waste by farmers,``Mr.Pradhan said. The Great advantage of using bio-diesel is that it not only reduces carbon emissions,but also provides farmers with an additional source of income by making their waste biomass into something marketable.``This has the potential to be a game-changer for farmers and for the supply of bio-diesel in the country,``he said. Mr.Pradhan said there was no decision yet on whether bio-diesel would be included in the proposed Goods and Services Tax.``But we are in talks with states to come up with a uniform tax regime on bio-diesel,a single band in which all states tax the fuel,``he said.He also added that the Ministry had given tenders to companies for the supply of bio-diesel.