Nitin Gadkari unveils major plan for India’s ethanol blending programme: Check which companies will benefit

In a major development for the aviation as well as sugar industries, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that bio-ethanol can also be a sustainable fuel for aviation purpose as it can provide 80% savings on greenhouse gas emissions and can be blended up to 50% with conventional jet fuels without any modification.

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Addressing ‘Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA)’ Conference on ‘Alternative fuel- Road ahead’ on Tuesday, he further said that mixing of bio-ethanol with aviation fuel has already been tested and approved by the Indian air force. Nitin Gadkari also unveiled some important initiatives related to sugar industry in the country.

Against this backdrop, Zeebiz analyses the impact of some of these initiatives announced by the minister during the conference.

• The Union Government is planning to have a technological tie up with Brazil to conduct research how to increase ethanol blending in aviation fuels up to 50%.
• The minister also emphasized the increased use of flex-fuel vehicles. According to him, the rollout of flex-fuel vehicles on 100% bio-ethanol, the demand for ethanol will immediately jump by 4 to 5 times. Flex-Fuel vehicles are those which can run on up to 100% ethanol.
• According to experts, there is no need for technological change in vehicles up to 13% of ethanol blending. Currently, up to 10% of ethanol blended fuels are sold in the market. By 2025, it will reach up to 20% under the latest E-20 fuel programme.
• The minister also said that the government will try to take current Rs 20,000 crore ethanol economy to Rs 2 lakh core.
• This positive news related to ethanol blending programme will not only benefit the sugar industry but also other related companies like Praj Industries which is engaged in ethanol production related technologies, India Glycol, Shree Renuka Sugars, and Balrampur Chini.
• Shree Renuka Sugars Ltd’s is expected emerge as a major ethanol player as it has plans to increase the production from the current 24 crore liter per annum to 33 crore litre in FY23. Similary, Balrampur Chini has plans to increase the production from the existing 18 crore litre to 30 crore liter in FY23.

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