Faced with high oil prices and increasing oil imports to meet the country's rising demand for transportation fuels, there is now a perception that India's energy security is threatened. In addition to securing overseas oil fields, alternative options include biomass-based fuels and coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuels. While the production of biodiesel has now become a national mission, CTL fuels are also gaining currency as a commercially attractive proposition because of the potentially cleaner characteristics.