New ethanol targets reshape India’s food policy

The Union government has prepared a blueprint to enable it to rapidly scale up ethanol blending to cut costly oil imports, reworking the country’s food policy that will focus on sucking out excess food stocks to produce fuel. Officials say this would achieve multiple goals, while some experts suggested the country ought to move cautiously, balancing its food-security needs.

On June 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the advancing of the target year for 20% ethanol-blending by five years to 2025. The Union food ministry has prepared a blueprint towards achieving this goal, which HT has reviewed in the form of a presentation.