India has achieved the target of 10 per cent ethanol blending in petrol, five months ahead of schedule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.
This, he claimed, had led to a reduction of 27 lakh tonnes of carbon emissions and saved foreign exchange worth ₹41,000 crore. Farmers earned ₹40,600 crore in the last eight years due to increase in ethanol blending, he said at an event organised by the Isha Foundation.
Last June, Mr. Modi made public the ‘Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25’, which laid out a pathway for achieving 20% ethanol blending by 2025-26.
"Due to the coordinated efforts of the public sector oil marketing companies (OMCs), the target of 10% blending under the programme has been achieved much ahead of the targeted timeline of November 2022 wherein the public sector OMCs have attained an average 10% ethanol blending in petrol across the country," according to a statement from the Press Information Bureau.
A 2021 report by the NITI Aayog said that “immense benefits” could accrue to the country from 20% ethanol blending by 2025, such as saving ₹30,000 crore of foreign exchange per year, increased energy security, lowered carbon emissions, better air quality, self-reliance, better use of damaged foodgrains, increased farmers’ incomes and greater investment opportunities.
India achieved 9.45% ethanol blending as on March 13, 2022, according to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
