To substitute India's petroleum imports, the government has advised automobile makers to start manufacturing flex-fuel vehicles and flex-fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles complying with BS-VI emission norms within six months, union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

Gadkari further said this move will drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles on a well-to-wheel basis, helping India to comply with its commitment made at COP26 to reduce the total projected carbon emissions by one billion tonnes by 2030.

"In order to substitute India's import of petroleum as a fuel…we have now advised the automobile manufacturers in India to start manufacturing flex-fuel vehicles (FFV) and flex-fuel strong hybrid electric vehicles (FFV-SHEV) complying with BS-6 Norms in a time-bound manner within a period of six months," the road transport and highways minister said in a series of tweets.

The minister pointed out that flex-fuel vehicles are capable of running on a combination of 100 percent petrol or 100 percent bio-ethanol and their blends, along with strong hybrid electric technology in the case of FFV-SHEVs.

(Edited by : Jomy Jos Pullokaran)