ARTICLE 4 #EnergySecurity

The Indian sugar industry is pressing the government to raise the target for ethanol blending in petrol from the current 20% (E20) to 27% (E27), citing unused capacity and investments made in ethanol production.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited’s (HPCL) state-of-the-art Petroleum Oil Depot in Raipur, Chhattisgarh. The newly constructed facility boasts a storage capacity of 54,000 kilolitres (KL), designed to handle ethanol, petrol, and diesel, marking a major boost to India’s fuel distribution infrastructure.

For ESY 2025-26, the government has issued a tender for about 10.50 billion litres of ethanol supply. In that total, only 289 crore litres (2.89 billion litres) have been allocated to ethanol produced from sugar-based feedstocks (sugarcane juice, B-heavy molasses, etc) — about 28% of the requirement.