Ethanol blending programme may hit supply bottleneck after successful run

Doubts crop up over the viability of achieving 20% ethanol blending

India’s programme of blending petrol with ethanol has brought industry and farmers together for mutual benefit, but lately, the government’s optimism on this is being played down.

The Centre is fairly confident that owing to the programme’s pace and investments in the sugarcane and grain-based ethanol segments, the target won’t be difficult to achieve.

But some industry players have cast a shadow on this.

For the 2022-23 ethanol-supply year ending October 2023, the country has already achieved a blending target of 11.75 per cent till early July.

To achieve a target of 20 per cent blending, India will need around