NEW DELHI: India’s ethanol blending programme did not begin under the present government, and the initiative has a long institutional history and milestones, the Petroleum Ministry said on Friday, adding that the transition from E10 to E20 ethanol blending was not based on assumptions, but on years of testing, manufacturer consultations and field experience.
“A pilot ethanol blending programme was launched in 2001, formally announced in 2004, and E5 (5 per cent ethanol blending) was rolled out across several states by 2006. The policy framework was subsequently notified in the Gazette of India in January 2013 during the UPA government. These are matters of public record,” said the ministry in a detailed statement.
India had set a target of achieving 5 per cent ethanol blending across 10 states and union territories. Unfortunately, despite that ambition, blending remained stuck at around 1.5 per cent until 2014, it informed.
“Nobody questioned ethanol as a fuel. That had already been settled globally. The real challenge was how India could produce sufficient quantities of ethanol,” said the Petroleum Ministry.
At that time, India depended almost entirely on sugarcane, a seasonal crop, with an annual ethanol production capacity of roughly 400 crore litres. Such production levels were inadequate even for modest blending targets.
Recognising this constraint, the government fundamentally changed its approach. With the launch of the National Policy on Biofuels in May 2018, the government began creating the ecosystem necessary to produce ethanol at scale. This became a genuine whole-of-government mission.
“The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Indian Railways and several other ministries worked in close coordination to expand feedstocks, build infrastructure, support technology, align logistics, create demand certainty and encourage investment,” said the official statement. (IANS)
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