Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh is likely to become the top ethanol producer in the country with the state achieving a benchmark of 100 operational distilleries in the 2023-24 fiscal, reports The Times of India.
Currently, 85 distilleries are operating in the state and within the next few months 15 distilleries would start operations taking the number to 100, said additional chief secretary, of sugarcane and excise, Sanjay Bhoosreddy.
The state government is working on increasing the number of distilleries to 140 in the next three years, he said.
UP produced 134 crore litre of ethanol in 2022-23 which was the highest in the country and it is likely to increase to 160 crore litres in 2023-24, as per the records.
After achieving the 10% ethanol blending target, the centre has advanced the target of 20% blending from 2030 to 2025-26 and UP is presently having the capacity to achieve the 14% ethanol blending benchmark by the end of this fiscal.
