The policy of blending 20 percent ethanol with petrol will come into effect from April 1, 2026, and ethanol can be produced from a range of raw materials including sugarcane molasses, agricultural residues and starch-based crops such as maize and potatoes, Maharashtra’s Food and Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal told the state assembly on Friday.
In a written reply to the assembly, Bhujbal said the initiative is based on the National Policy on Biofuels 2018 announced by the Centre on June 4, 2018. Under this policy, ethanol can also be produced using wheat that is not suitable for human consumption as well as broken rice. He said the government periodically reviews foodgrain production and permits surplus stocks to be used for ethanol production.
The clarification came after legislators Anil Patil, Dhananjay Munde and Samadhan Avtade raised concerns that the increasing use of broken rice instead of maize for ethanol production was affecting maize growers. They said maize farmers were receiving prices nearly 30 percent lower than the minimum support price.
Responding to the issue, Bhujbal said that an order issued by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on September 1, 2025 allows distilleries to purchase surplus rice from the Food Corporation of India for ethanol production between November 1, 2025 and June 30, 2026. According to the order, up to 52 lakh metric tonnes of surplus rice can be sold to distilleries during this period.
The minister also clarified that maize procured under the minimum support price scheme is distributed through the Public Distribution System in line with the Centre’s policy and is not purchased for ethanol production.
Bhujbal said that during the 2025–26 marketing season, about 60,035 farmers from 16 districts registered to sell maize to the government under the support price procurement scheme. Of these, maize has been procured from 12,269 farmers in 14 districts.
So far, a total of 5,11,535.9 quintals of maize have been purchased at the minimum support price of Rs 2,400 per quintal, he said.
The Centre had initially set a procurement target of 6.6 lakh quintals of maize, which was later increased by an additional 5 lakh quintals. Bhujbal said the deadline for procurement has been extended until March 31, 2026, and this is expected to raise the total quantity of maize purchased.
