Ethanol blending with petrol has reached 14.6 per cent blending in ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2023–24 with more than 700 crore litres of ethanol supply. This has been a major progress from 5 per cent blending rate in ESY 2018–19, which amounted to 188.6 crore litres of ethanol supply, Minister of State (MoS) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply on Monday.
There has been a significant increase in the number of retail outlets for ethanol blended petrol as well. In 2019, it was being sold in 43,168 retail outlets of public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs). This has now increased to all the retail outlets across the country in 2024, the minister mentioned.
MoS also said that EBP programme has helped expeditious payment of approximately Rs 57,552 crore to the farmers during the past three years till September 30, 2024. Approximate savings of more than Rs 75,000 crore of foreign exchange has been made in that duration along with crude oil substitution of nearly 110 lakh metric tonnes and net CO2 reduction of about 332 lakh metric tonnes.
Last week Gopi said in a written reply to Lok Sabha that 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol will generate more than Rs 35,000 crore annually for farmers. The blending target which was initially set for 2030 has been advanced to ESY 2025–26.
Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme
Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme was launched in 2003. In 2006, the ministry had directed all the public sector OMCs to sell 5 per cent EBP in 20 states and four Union Territories.
Under the EBP programme, the government had introduced administered price mechanism for procurement of cane-based ethanol. Financial assistance is also provided to the distilleries under the Ethanol Interest Subvention Scheme (EISS). Distilleries get interest subvention at the rate of 6 per cent per annum or 50 per cent of the rate of interest charged by banks on bank loans
