More than 1,000 crore litres of ethanol have been blended during the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2024–25, resulting in an average ethanol blending rate of 19.24 per cent in petrol, while blending touched 19.97 per cent in October, Parliament was informed on Thursday.
Under the National Policy on Biofuels–2018, amended in 2022, the target of achieving 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol was advanced from 2030 to the Ethanol Supply Year 2025–26 (November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2026).
Public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs) achieved 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol in June 2022—five months ahead of schedule during ESY 2021–22—followed by 12.06 per cent blending in ESY 2022–23 and 14.60 per cent in ESY 2023–24, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.
To ensure consistent availability of feedstock and infrastructure for ethanol production, the government has taken several measures, including expanding feedstock options, introducing an administered price mechanism for ethanol procurement under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme, reducing GST on ethanol to 5 per cent for the EBP programme, and implementing various Ethanol Interest Subvention Schemes (EISS), among others.
The government has also allocated 52 lakh metric tonnes (LMT) of surplus Food Corporation of India (FCI) rice for ethanol production for both ESY 2024–25 (November 1, 2024 to October 31, 2025) and ESY 2025–26. In addition, 40 LMT of sugar has been diverted for ethanol production during ESY 2024–25, along with unrestricted ethanol production from sugarcane juice, sugar syrup, B-heavy molasses and C-heavy molasses for ESY 2025–26.
Further, the government notified the Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan–Vatavaran Anukool Fasal Awashesh Nivaran) Yojana in 2019, which was amended in 2024. The scheme aims to promote the establishment of advanced biofuel projects, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel, using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstocks.
Under the scheme, financial assistance of up to ₹150 crore per project has been prescribed for commercial-scale projects and up to ₹15 crore per project for demonstration-scale projects, the minister said.
— IANS
