Recently, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) invited tenders for the supply of 916 crore liters of denatured anhydrous ethanol for the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2024-25. The response exceeded the required quantity of 916 crore liters with over 970 crore liters of offers submitted by the manufacturers across the country.
According to report, this is first time that offers have surpassed the requirement by around six percent. Out of total offers for 970.80 crore liters, 391.40 crore liters is offered from sugarcane based feedstocks and 579.40 crore liters is offered from grain based feedstocks.
Notably, the offers from grain-based ethanol sources have outnumbered those from sugar-based sources, with grain route ethanol accounting for 59.68 compared to 40.32% from the sugarcane route.
The government is actively implementing the Ethanol Blended with Petrol (EBP) Programme, which enables OMCs to sell petrol mixed with ethanol.
The response from ethanol manufacturers are very encouraging, especially as the government has recently taken various measures to boost ethanol production. The 20 percent ethanol blending target now seems achievable, having been advanced from 2030 to ESY 2025-26. Recently, Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also expressed confidence that the set ethanol blending target will be achieved ahead of target time.
India’s ethanol production capacity has expanded significantly, now reaching 1,648 crore liters. The government is optimistic that this growing capacity will meet the country’s domestic ethanol needs. However, to achieve the 20% blending target, approximately 1,016 crore liters of ethanol will be required, totaling 1,350 crore liters when accounting for other uses. By 2025, it is estimated that an ethanol production capacity of around 1,700 crore liters will be necessary, assuming plants operate at 80% efficiency.
