NEW DELHI, October 20 — The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced on Monday that India has accomplished the nationwide target of 20% ethanol blending in petrol (E20 Fuel) ahead of its targeted 2025–26 timeline.
Fuel distribution metrics published by public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs—IOCL, BPCL, HPCL) confirmed that E20 supplies are now operational across more than 15,000 retail dispensing outlets nationwide. Annual ethanol procurement reached a record 5.6 billion litres, displacing imported crude petroleum, saving over ₹95,000 Crore in sovereign foreign exchange, and averting over 54 million metric tonnes of net greenhouse carbon emissions.
The Ministry highlighted that direct procurement disbursements exceeding ₹82,000 Crore were credited directly to sugarcane growers and maize/damaged grain farmers, transforming the agricultural sector into a direct energy producer (Annadata to Urjadata) while fortifying the domestic rural agro-processing industry.
The statutory framework of the National Biofuel Policy 2018 (amended in 2022 to advance the 20% blending mandate to 2025–26), technical distinctions between 1G and 2G ethanol feedstocks, the SATAT initiative for Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG), and the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) are high-yield topics for UPSC GS-III.