Reacting to the news article titled “10,000 litres water for one litre of ethanol: India’s fuel push to worsen water crisis”, Vijendra Singh, President, AIDA, said that every kilogram of rice India exports carries 4,000 litres of embedded water silently without debate. Yet when broken, consumption-unfit rice is used for ethanol production, figures of 10,000 litres per litre of ethanol are amplified selectively.
Singh said, “This number reflects agriculture’s cumulative water footprint, not the 3–4 litres actually consumed at the distillery. The same grain used for starch production never attracted such scrutiny. One must question the intent behind this selective timing”.
“India battles air pollution and a crushing crude oil import bill. The ethanol blending programme addresses both directly reducing fossil fuel dependence while supporting our farming communities,” he said.
Singh said that AIDA wholeheartedly commends the Government of India for this bold, forward-looking initiative. “We urge all stakeholders to assess this programme on complete evidence, and not allow decontextualised narratives to derail a solution that serves every Indian,” he stated.
Kushal Mittal, Vice President, AIDA, said that the ethanol blending programme represents the most strategically sound energy decision India has made in recent years.
“Our industry converts surplus and damaged grain nutritionally unfit for consumption into clean fuel, rural employment, and measurable energy security. The water footprint figures currently circulating misrepresent ground realities. The 10,000-litre figure reflects cumulative agricultural water use, not the 3–4 litres consumed within the distillery. This distinction matters enormously,” he said.
Mittal added that when this same grain served industrial starch production, no such concerns were raised. The selective emergence of these narratives, precisely when India moves decisively toward energy self-reliance, demands scrutiny.
“Our industry has invested significantly in building ethanol capacity in service of national goals. AIDA’s position is unambiguous, and I personally stand behind every word of it. We call upon media, policymakers, and civil society to engage with complete data and reject decontextualised narratives,” he concluded.
