Industry Odisha Bureau, May 18: Even though India has already implemented a nationwide “E20 Petrol Mandate” by blending 20 per cent ethanol with petrol to enhance energy security, reduce emissions, and support India’s sugarcane farmers, the unresolved West Asia crisis further aggravated by the Hormuz hurdle-triggered disruptions of crude oil supply chain has compelled India’s ethanol push to accelerate its Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) to ‘E85’ and ‘E100’ in near future.
As the age-old adage “Necessity is the mother of invention”goes, Brazil, globally acclaimed as ‘Sugar Paradise’, reportedly stole the show by calling the shots in “promoting ethanol production from its aplenty sugarcane yields and mandating ethanol blending with petrol within the next five years then after being bitten by the bitter experience of global energy crisis in 1973 following embargo on oil production imposed by the Arab nations.”
Eventually, Brazil reportedly introduced cars running on 100 per cent ethanol.
In this context, experts are of the view that Brazil has finetuned the internal combustible engines (ICEs) of its automobile vehicles to flex fuel variants that could seamlessly run either on cent percent ethanol or ethanol-blended petrol.
If India is following the suit, the engines of the India-manufacuterd automobile vehicles ought to be calibrated accordingly, aver experts.
On the contrary, it has also been reported that, “higher ethanol blend is cheaper in Brazil, but that offers less fuel efficiency owing to its lower energy density than petrol.”
As Government of India has already implemented E20, it has been reported that “the ethanol-blended petrol has so far helped India’s coffers save Rs 1.7 trillion of foreign exchange by replacing imported crude oil between November 2014 and February 2026.”
Nothwithstanding that, the million dollar questions are: Can India be able enough to be at par with Brazil as 75 per cent of the country’s personal vehicles are reportedly flex fuel run?
Secondly, “Can India be able enough to produce adequate volume of ethanol for the proposed E80/E100 mandate(s)?
Thirdly, Can India be self-sufficient in the feedstock crops to divert for ethanol production without hampering essential food availability for its populace and livestock?
As per media reports, “E20 blending in India at present requires 13.5 billion litres of ethanol, while the proposed E80/E100 mandates would require 34 billion litres of ethanol.”
Moreover, experts also opine that, “India would require additional 4-5 billion litres of ethanol by 2030.”
Thus, experts have reportedly sounded alert saying, “India’s proposed E80/E100 ethanol mandates would pose as a daunting task due to land limitations and lack of structural surplus in feedstock crops”.
They have also reportedly argued, “Since India’s fuel demand rises by 4-5 per cent annually, the country would need more ethanol produced accordingly to keep pace with the unavoidable circumstances.”
Last but not the least, there is a huge gap between the number of population as well as number of vehicles in Brazil and India. While Brazil possesses “surplus food availability to feed its population”, India has already earned a dubious distinction for being the “most populous country in the world with approximately 1,481,427,083 people as of 2026, accounting for about 18 per cent of the total world population.”
“Look before you leap” would be wiser for India so far the country’s “Ethanol Euphoria” is concerned.
