How sustainable is India’s E20 push? | Explained
In August, the government told the Lok Sabha that the ethanol blending programme had helped save around ₹2 lakh crore in foreign exchange. However, Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal, have launched campaigns against E20, saying it harms vehicles and that the government is forcing it on people
The Indian government has been pushing for the inclusion of ethanol in petrol, aiming to produce 10-11 billion litres of ethanol to replace 20% of the fuel. Opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal have criticized this move, claiming it harms vehicles and that the government is under pressure from the U.S. to purchase ethanol from overseas.
Despite these concerns, distillery capacity in India has expanded, allowing for the production of 18-20 billion litres of ethanol. Oil companies have committed to purchasing 10.5 billion litres of ethanol for the upcoming ethanol year, which runs from November to October.
Written by urgent.news from The Hindu's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
