No commitments relating to ethanol import from US under FTA talks: Govt

The government said India has made no commitment to import US ethanol for fuel blending, reaffirming that the blending programme relies entirely on domestic supplies

The government on Thursday said no concessions or commitments relating to the import of ethanol for fuel blending from the US have been made in the India-US trade pact discussions.

India's fuel blending programme and ethanol procurement continue to be governed solely by the country's domestic policy requirements, the commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

It said that recent claims in the media suggesting that India is importing and intends to import large quantities of ethanol from the US for fuel blending are baseless and factually incorrect.

As per the domestic policy framework, it said, ethanol used for fuel blending under the Ethanol Blended with Petrol Programme is sourced entirely from domestic producers.

 

There is no import of ethanol for fuel blending from the US, it added.

"No concessions or commitments relating to the import of ethanol for fuel blending from the U.S. have been made in the India-US trade discussions. Accordingly, any suggestion of a policy change to permit large-scale imports of fuel ethanol from the US is misleading," it said.