The government’s decision of advancing the date of 20% ethanol blending to 2023 is a positive step but it seems a little difficult to achieve by that date, however, the agenda has been set, said Vijay Banka, MD, Dwarikesh Sugar Industries in an interview with CNBC-TV18.
“With the government’s decision the sugar companies will use more sugarcane juice for directly making ethanol, B-heavy molasses,” he said.
Focusing on ethanol production will ultimately lower sugar production. “The sugar companies that were not doing well in sugar production will have a good time by focusing on ethanol production,” he said.
Taking a step ahead to reduce India’s dependence on oil imports, the Union government has set the target of achieving 20 per cent ethanol-blending with petrol by 2023. Earlier the government had set a deadline for 20 per cent ethanol blending to 2030 which was brought forward to 2025 last year and now it is advanced to April 2023.
