India's E20 Ethanol Blending Program Saves Foreign Exchange, Faces Challenges

The Indian government's E20 ethanol blending program has achieved significant benefits, including saving foreign exchange and reducing crude imports. The program aims to blend 20% ethanol with 80% petrol, helping to reduce dependence on imported crude oil.

India's distillery capacity has expanded sharply since the policy push began, with around 500 distilleries now operating at a combined capacity of 18-20 billion litres. For the current ethanol year, which runs from November to October, oil companies have contracted to procure about 10.5 billion litres of ethanol.

The feedstock composition for the current ethanol year is as follows: maize (45%), FCI rice (22%), sugarcane juice (16%), B-heavy molasses (10%), damaged foodgrains (4.5%), and C-heavy molasses (1.1%).