India Becomes the World’s First Country to Commercially Produce Bio-Bitumen

Why in News ? On January 7, 2026, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), announced India has become the first country globally to commercially produce bio-bitumen at a at Council of Scientific Industrial Research(CSIR) Technology Transfer (TT) ceremony titled “From Farm Residue to Roads” in New Delhi, Delhi.

• Union Minister of State(MoS) (Independent Charge, IC) Dr Jitendra Singh, Ministry of Science & Technology (MoS&T) termed it “Clean, Green Highways era” during CSIR technology transfer.

About Bio-Bitumen:
Partial Replacement: It is a binder material for road construction made by converting agricultural waste such as paddy straw and other crop residues into bio-oil through a pyrolysis process, which is then blended with conventional bitumen.

• With 15% blending, India can save nearly Rs. 4,500 crore in foreign exchange and substantially reduce its dependence on imported crude oil.

Developer: The technology was developed by the Council of Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR)-Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP).
Commercialization: Licenses have been issued to multiple Indian manufacturers to produce bio-bitumen, enabling industrial-scale production.