Govt seeks to raise ethanol blending target to 25%: Food Minister

New Delhi: The Food Ministry has requested the government think tank Niti Aayog to increase the ethanol blending target for petrol to 25 per cent from the current 20 per cent and develop a comprehensive roadmap, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday. India, the world's third-largest ethanol producer and consumer, had initially set a target of 20% ethanol blending with petrol by 2030 under its Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, which was later revised to 2025-26. "We have written to the Niti Aayog to increase it further to 25 per cent and evolve a roadmap," Joshi said while addressing the 2nd India Sugar and Bio Energy Conference organised by industry body ISMA here.

The minister reported that ethanol blending has risen to 13.6 per cent from 1.53 per cent in the 2013-14 supply year, crediting combined efforts of the government and industry. This increase was supported by expanded ethanol production capacity to 1,623 crore liters across about 250 distilleries. Joshi highlighted measures taken to promote ethanol production, including, allowing use of sugarcane juice/syrup, B-heavy and C-heavy molasses for ethanol production for 2024-25 supply year. The government has also allowed sale of 23 lakh tonne of rice by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to grain-based ethanol distilleries.

Joshi said the Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana, aimed at encouraging production of 2G and 3G ethanol, has been amended and extended till 2028-29 to provide financial support to advanced biofuel projects. He called for cooperation between Brazil and India, the world's top two sugar producers, in production of biofuels like ethanol, biodiesel, and biojet fuel. "Bioenergy is the future. Government and industry have to jointly work with innovation, collaboration and responsibility to achieve sustainable growth for a Vikshit Bharat by 2047," Joshi added.