'Ethanol blending programme helps farmers receive over Rs 1,36,300 crore'

Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme has resulted in expeditious payment to farmers to the tune of over Rs 1,36,300 crore from Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2014-15 up to October 2025, the Parliament was informed on Monday.

This also resulted in savings of more than Rs 1,55,000 crore of foreign exchange, net CO2 reduction of approximately 790 lakh metric tonnes and substitution of more than 260 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Suresh Gopi, told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply to a question.

The Department of Food and Public Distribution (DFPD) has informed that sugar production in the country exceeded domestic demand during the Sugar Season (SS) 2024-25 (October-September).

Sugar availability during SS 2024-25 stood at 340 lakh metric ton (LMT), apart from diversion of 34 LMT for ethanol production, as against the domestic sugar demand of 281 LMT, according to the minister.

Sugar diversion for ethanol production has helped stabilise surplus sugar inventories in the country and ensure timely payment to farmers for their cane dues. Maize production has also increased by nearly 30 per cent from 337.30 LMT in 2021-22 to 443 LMT in 2024-25.

Further, to incentivise the use of non-food biomass for second-generation ethanol production, the government has launched Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN (Jaiv Indhan-Vatavaran Anukool fasal awashesh Nivaran) Yojana to provide financial support to advance bio-fuel projects using lignocellulosic biomass and other renewable feedstocks.

The minister further stated that the government is also encouraging farmers to diversify from water-intensive crops like rice, sugarcane, etc., to more sustainable crops like maize for ethanol production.

The "Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25" has also noted that technological advancements have made it possible for molasses-based distilleries with incineration boilers and grain-based distilleries to become zero liquid discharge (ZLD) units, resulting in negligible pollution.

The government is also promoting water conservation practices in sugarcane cultivation by promoting drip irrigation under the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ scheme. Many sugar mills are also running awareness campaigns among cane farmers to adopt water conservation techniques.