India Achieves 10% Ethanol Blending

India has achieved the target of 10% ethanol blending in petrol five months ahead of schedule - November, 2022. This is up from 1.5% in 2014.

There are three clear benefits of achieving this goal:

• first, it has led to a reduction of 27 lakh tonnes of carbon emission;
• second, it has saved foreign exchange worth Rs.41,000 crore and;
• thirdly, farmers of the country have earned Rs. 40,600 crore in the last eight years due to increase in ethanol blending.

Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme

• The Centre promotes the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme with the aim of enhancing energy security, reducing import dependency on fuel, saving foreign exchange, addressing environmental issues and giving a boost to agriculture.
• The ‘National Policy on Biofuels’ notified by the government in 2018 envisaged an indicative target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol by 2030.
• Given the encouraging performance and various interventions made by the government since 2014, the 20% target was advanced to 2025-26