The initiative to set up coal-to-methanol plants using indigenous technology in India is currently under work-in-progress stage. This was announced during the demo run of an inland water vessel powered by methanol blended diesel (MD15) on the Brahmaputra river in Guwahati, Assam.

As per the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Bharat Heavy Electrical (BHEL - Hyderabad and Trichy), Thermax, and IIT Delhi are collaborating on the project. The project is aligned to NITI Aayog's 'Methanol Economy' programme which aims to reduce the country's oil import bill, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and sustainably convert coal reserves and municipal solid waste into methanol.

Further, blending of 15 percent methanol in gasoline can lead to at least 15 percent reduction in the import of gasoline/crude oil.

Assam Petrochemical Limited (APL), Namrup, which currently produces about 100 tpd of methanol, has been instrumental in advancing these initiatives and is implementing a new project for methanol production of 500 tpd.
Methanol is a low-carbon hydrogen carrier fuel and can cater to the transport sector, the energy sector and also serve as a retail cooking fuel alternative.