India's DGCA drafts SAF mandate: 1% blend from 2027, 20% by 2040

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation has completed a 30-page draft National Policy on Sustainable Aviation Fuel that mandates a 1% SAF blend in aviation turbine fuel from 2027, rising to 5% by 2030 and 20% by 2040. The civil aviation ministry has not yet approved the document, a ministry source confirmed. Until it does, the mandate remains a proposal rather than law.

The source told The New Indian Express, which accessed the draft: "The draft of the policy has been completed. The aviation ministry is yet to give its nod to the draft policy which will make it final." That is the whole story in two sentences. Everything else is sequencing.

What does the mandate require?

The binding targets apply initially to international flights, aligned with India's entry into the mandatory phase of ICAO's CORSIA programme in 2027. The draft sets indicative blending targets of 1% by 2027, 2% by 2028 and 5% by 2030 for international operations.

The scale is measurable. By 2030, India's ATF consumption is expected to reach nearly 14.2 million tonnes, of which 7.7 million tonnes will be burned by international aviation. A 5% blend on that traffic implies roughly 385,000 tonnes of SAF demand annually at the end of the decade.

Only domestically manufactured SAF qualifies. Fuel suppliers must blend SAF with ATF either at the production facility or refinery, or at intermediate storage before supplying airports. The policy states this explicitly and builds a domestic ecosystem around it.

Who is exempt, and who pays?

The exemption list is short and sensible:

• Domestic flights
• Non-scheduled international operators
• Humanitarian, medical and emergency flights
• Maintenance flights carrying no passengers or cargo

Any fuel supplier or aircraft operator that fails to comply faces a penalty, the draft states. Airport authorities and operators must prepare infrastructure for SAF storage, handling and distribution.

How will compliance be tracked?

The draft proposes an SAF registry under the DGCA for transparent tracking, monitoring, reporting and verification of SAF transactions and associated emission reductions. It also envisages a National Council on Sustainable Aviation Fuel, co-chaired by the secretaries of the petroleum and natural gas ministry and the civil aviation ministry. "The Council will meet periodically to provide overall coordination, effective end-to-end implementation and monitoring of SAF policy," the document says.

Governance will sit under the National Biofuels Policy 2018. Implementation runs in two phases: 2027-2030 and 2031-2040.

What will it cost?

SAF is expected to cost at least two to three times more than conventional jet fuel. For context, that premium, applied across even the initial 1% blend, adds a measurable burden to a sector where fuel is already the largest single operating cost. The draft acknowledges this and calls for an enabling mechanism in the initial phase so that suppliers are adequately incentivised to produce SAF meeting the policy's goals.

The mechanism itself is not yet defined. That gap, not the headline percentages, will decide whether the 2027 start date holds.

India is the world's third-largest domestic aviation market by passengers carried, and every Indian carrier's cost base sits downstream of this document. Airlines flying internationally from 2027 — Air India, IndiGo and their peers — face fuel obligations their current supply chains cannot yet meet at domestic scale. The policy's domestic-only production requirement means India must build an SAF industry from a near-zero base within roughly three years.

The ministry's approval, expected imminently according to the source, converts a draft into national policy. The registry, the council and the incentive mechanism then have to exist in practice before the first litre is blended.