Following various media reports claiming that the Indian government has raised its ethanol blending target in petrol to 30% within the next five years, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has officially dismissed these claims.
In a statement, PIB Fact Check clarified: “Several news reports and social media posts have claimed that the government has increased its target for ethanol blending in petrol to 30% in the next five years. This claim is fake, and the government has taken no such decision. The target is to achieve 20% ethanol blending by the year 2025.”
Recently Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, also responded to the reports during an event. He stated, “Yes, that is broadly the direction we are heading in, but we still have a lot of homework to do.”
As per the National Policy on Biofuels – 2018, amended in 2022, the government has set a goal to achieve 20% ethanol blending in petrol by the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025–26. This marked a shift from the earlier target of 2030. Progress toward this goal has been steady: Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) reached a 10% blending rate in June 2022, five months ahead of schedule. This rose to 12.06% in ESY 2022–23 and further to 14.60% in ESY 2023–24.
The current government target remains fixed at 20% by ESY 2025–26.
