India will start supplying petrol with 20 per cent ethanol at select petrol pumps from April next year and will ramp up supplies thereafter as it looks to cut oil import dependence and address environmental issues.
Oil Minister Hardeep Puri said a fifth of petrol will be made up of ethanol by 2025.
“E20 petrol (petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol) in some quantity will be available from April 2023 and the rest to be covered by 2025,” he said.
India, which achieved the target of supplying petrol mixed with 10 per cent ethanol (10 per cent ethanol, 90 per cent petrol) ahead of schedule in June this year, has advanced the target of making petrol with 20 per cent ethanol by five years to 2025.
