In a bid to promote use of ethanol blended fuel, Union minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri urged automobile companies to produce E100-compatible vehicles.
Speaking at India Bio Energy & Tech Expo, the oil minister said the government is actively collaborating with the automobile industry to develop vehicles compatible with ethanol.
"I would like to commend the automobile industry for not only manufacturing new vehicles that are compliant with E 20 fuel, but also for their efforts in developing retrofit kits for older vehicles," said Puri. He added that India has launched E100 fuel at over 400 retail outlets across the country.
The Indian government has been working to promote the use of alternate fuels in the country to reduce the reliance of crude oil imports. The government aims to achieve 20 percent blending of ethanol in petrol by 2025.
“The government is taking all the necessary steps to achieve 20 percent blending of ethanol in petrol,” said Puri.
The minister also emphasized the importance of diversifying feedstocks for ethanol production to ensure security and avoid over-reliance on any single source.
The government’s ongoing policy of providing stable and remunerative prices for ethanol has effectively reduced pending arrears for sugarcane farmers, lessened crude oil import dependence, and contributed to foreign exchange savings while benefiting the environment, he said.
Puri said that the government has introduced various incentives for ethanol production including Rs 9.72 per litre for ethanol derived from maize, Rs 8.46 per litre for ethanol from damaged rice and Rs 6.87 per litre for ethanol from C-heavy molasses.
The incentives have boosted maize’s contribution to ethanol production to 36 percent in the 2023-24 ethanol supply year (ESY) from a mere 0 percent in 2021-22, he added.
The minister said the government has resumed the supply of FCI rice to ethanol distilleries, allowing for the purchase of up to 23 lakh tonnes through e-auctions from August to October 2024. Starting from November 2024, the supply of sugarcane juice and syrup to distilleries will also commence, marking the start of the 2024-25 Ethanol Supply Year, he added.
Puri said the ethanol blending percentage in petrol has surged from 1.53 percent in 2014 to 15 percent in 2024. Over the past decade, the ethanol blending initiative has led to saving Rs 99,014 crore in foreign exchange, reduced CO2 emissions by 519 lakh metric tons, and substituted 173 lakh metric tons of crude oil, he added.
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