New Delhi: Racketeers who adulterate oil have met their match. David Moxam, CEO and president of Authentix, which helps in detecting in industrial counterfeiting, is in India.
Moxam has used molecular nano-technology to detect oil adulteration worldwide and now he's hoping to do the same in India. The Petroleum Ministry in October 2007 made a deal with Authentix to use nano-technology to police the oil mafia. The technology used a molecular marker used to detect adulterated fuel.
Petrol and diesel are commonly spiked with subsidised kerosene India. The result: kerosene doesn't reach its intended beneficiaries; consumers get adulterated fuel and the Government loses out on revenues. The Government is happy with Moxam’s work.
“The results have been very good. Last month alone we have tested more than 100 samples (of fuel) and found that one fourth were adulterated," says M S Srinivasan, Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary.
Authentix claims the rise in diesel sales of PSU oil marketing companies is because of its technology. Petroleum Ministry officials though were unwilling to quantify the impact of the marker which comes at an annual cost of about Rs 100 crore.
"You judge an investment by the payback period. Here the payback period was not in years or months but in days," says Moxam.
Moxam now wants to bite the next pill, and is in talks with pharma companies for checking drug adulteration.
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