AbstractIndia announced a long‐awaited and much‐needed national biofuel policy in December 2009 with a mandate of achieving 20% blending of bioethanol and biodiesel by 2017. However, while the determination of specific time‐bound targets is a crucial step in the Indian biofuel program, several aspects of the guidelines reflect uncertainty that may render the 20% target unachievable. This perspective traces the rapid changes in political strategies of biofuels in India over the last decade and reviews significant scientific progress, achieved in the same period. Our observation indicates that biofuel policies in India have followed a zigzag course interspersed with several positive initiatives, severely discouraging advocacies and occasional neglect of biofuels. The multiplicity of related policies, each partially addressing biofuel issues have amounted to increasing ambiguity.We present an analysis of the tenets of the current policy with respect to land availability, related land use, and economic and marketing institutions, which are some of the important determinants of success for the Indian biofuel program. Some recommendations emanating from the analysis are (1) to estimate of available land and land use change effects; (2) to build resilience for energy crops towards climate change; and (3) to strengthen marketing and financial mechanisms at grass‐roots level. In conclusion we emphasize the need for timely scientific assessments and the subsequent incorporation into policy formulation to enable India to achieve the overall goal of sustainable biofuel production. © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd