A delegation of ethanol industry representatives from Bihar has met the Union Petroleum Secretary to flag concerns over lower ethanol allocations to distilleries in the state for the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025–26, reported ChiniMandi.
The delegation was led by CA Kunal Kishore, founder-director of InvestAid India and secretary general of the Bihar Ethanol Association. During the meeting with officials from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the group said ethanol allocations to Bihar-based units fall short despite large investments, existing production capacity and long-term commitments made under the national Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme.
Industry representatives said the current allocation levels could affect the financial viability of plants and slow the progress Bihar has made in emerging as an important ethanol-producing state. They stressed that predictable and timely allocations are crucial to maintaining investor confidence and supporting India’s energy security and biofuel targets.
According to the delegation, the discussions were constructive and focused on ensuring that the goals of the EBP Programme are met in a fair and transparent manner, while also recognising the role of states that have developed strong ethanol ecosystems.
The delegation included Dr Dilip Patel, chairman of Patel Group of Industries; Abinash Verma of Eastern India Biofuels Pvt Ltd; Ajay Singh of Bharat Plus Ethanol Private Limited; and Rakesh Gupta, chief operating officer of Micromax Biofuels Pvt Ltd. Industry members said they were hopeful the ministry would examine their concerns and take corrective steps to support balanced regional growth.
Under the current ESY 2025–26, ethanol blending in petrol reached 20 per cent in November 2025. During the same month, oil marketing companies (OMCs) received 45.5 crore litres of ethanol under the EBP Programme, while total ethanol blended into petrol stood at 89.6 crore litres, according to official data.
In the previous ESY 2024–25, OMCs blended 1,022.8 crore litres of ethanol, achieving an average blending rate of 19.2 per cent.
For ESY 2025–26 (Cycle 1), OMCs have allocated around 1,048 crore litres of ethanol against offers totalling 1,776 crore litres submitted by manufacturers nationwide. Tenders had been invited for the supply of 1,050 crore litres.
Maize-based ethanol accounts for the largest share of the allocation at 45.68 per cent, or about 478.9 crore litres. This is followed by ethanol from FCI rice at 22.25 per cent (233.3 crore litres), sugarcane juice at 15.82 per cent (165.9 crore litres), B-heavy molasses at 10.54 per cent (110.5 crore litres), damaged food grains at 4.54 per cent (47.6 crore litres) and C-heavy molasses at 1.16 per cent (12.2 crore litres).
As of November 2025, India’s total ethanol production capacity is estimated at around 1,990 crore litres. Industry players are now calling for ethanol blending levels to be raised beyond 20 per cent, saying a large part of the installed capacity remains underutilised.
