Onlykashmir.in News Desk
The Indian Government has said that its Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme has shielded consumers from global crude oil price volatility while simultaneously balancing food security, farmer welfare and energy security, pushing back against what it described as an incomplete and misleading picture of the programme presented in certain recent claims.
Setting out what it called the factual position, the government said that when the Indian crude oil basket surged to around 135 dollars per barrel during a period of global price volatility, petrol without ethanol blending was projected to have cost around 125 rupees per litre in New Delhi. Instead, consumers paid 94.77 rupees per litre, as twenty per cent ethanol blending, sourced domestically at comparatively stable prices, cushioned the impact of soaring global crude prices on the retail price of petrol for ordinary consumers.
According to the government, the programme resulted in savings of nearly 30 rupees per litre at the pump during the peak of the price crisis, translating into more than ₹1.97 lakh crore in foreign exchange savings and the substitution of over 316 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil imports that would otherwise have been required. Officials framed these figures as clear evidence that the blending programme has delivered tangible economic benefits at both the household and national level.
On the question of food security, the government said it had prioritised the use of surplus and waste agricultural produce for conversion into ethanol, rather than diverting essential food grain stocks. It said the ethanol programme relies on damaged grain, broken rice and food grains unfit for human consumption, stocks that would otherwise be at risk of rotting in warehouses without any productive use. The government further clarified that ethanol production is built around a flexible mix of approved feedstocks and is not dependent solely on cheap rice, as some critics have alleged.
The government said it had effectively turned waste into wealth through the programme, simultaneously reducing crude oil imports and putting more money into the hands of Indian farmers who supply the feedstock used in ethanol production, while urging that future assessments of the programme take into account the full range of economic and food security data it has now placed in the public domain.
