In a draft notification issued on Tuesday night, the ministry proposed including E100 in testing and certification standards, replacing the current provision that only covers E85, a fuel blend containing 85 per cent ethanol and 15 per cent gasoline.
The West Asia crisis has spurred the push for faster adoption of flex-fuel vehicles, as critical energy supplies, including crude oil, remain vulnerable in the Strait of Hormuz off the Iranian coast.
“This draft notification by MoRTH marks a progressive and forward-looking step for India’s biofuel ecosystem,” said the Grain Ethanol Manufacturers Association, adding that it is a strong policy signal the country is ready to move beyond E20, which contains 20 per cent ethanol blended with petrol, and embrace higher ethanol blends in a structured and regulated manner.
For the grain-based ethanol industry, this development opens up big opportunities to scale production, drive investments, and contribute more meaningfully to India’s energy security and decarbonisation goals, it said.
“Higher ethanol blends such as E85 and E100 will significantly enhance demand for surplus grains, thereby strengthening farm incomes and creating a more resilient agri-value chain,” it added.
Meanwhile, the move — which will see further action after a 30-day stakeholder consultation period — is aimed at increasing the share of flex-fuel vehicles in the Indian automotive (auto) market.
A February meeting, held before the escalation of the West Asia conflict, saw oil-marketing companies (OMCs) raise several concerns, including weak demand for flex fuels.
Auto industry executives echoed these concerns in conversations with Business Standard on Wednesday, saying the absence of a meaningful price advantage remains a fundamental hurdle, as consumers are unlikely to shift to higher ethanol blends without clear savings at the pump.
At the February 28 meeting, OMCs also raised concerns over the absence of flex-fuel vehicle models in India and the lack of a clear launch timeline.
The meeting was convened by the Ministries of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Heavy Industries against the backdrop of the West Asia conflict, which has disrupted global oil and gas supplies and pushed up fuel prices. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers and select automakers were also present.
Auto executives said on Wednesday that unless vehicle availability and fuel infrastructure are scaled up in tandem, there is a risk of underutilised capacity and inefficient capital deployment, similar to what was seen in earlier pilot programmes.
 "While ethanol production capacity has rapidly expanded to around 19-19.9 billion litres per year, demand for E20 blended fuel is estimated at only about 11 billion litres in the current ethanol year that began last November")