Ethanol Policy Has Driven Corn Price to ₹2800 a Quintal, Boosting Farmers Income: Gadkari
India’s ethanol push has boosted maize prices to ₹2,800 per quintal from ₹1,200 a year and a half ago, benefiting farmers, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Maize now supplies over 42% of ethanol output, with cultivation expanding by nine lakh hectares. However, rising diversion for biofuel has upset food and feed supplies, making India a corn importer.
Since the government decided to produce ethanol from corn, the market price of the crop has risen to ₹2,800 per quintal, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Jairam Gadkari said on Friday in a video message at the 5th International Climate Summit hosted by PHDCCI.
“A year and a half ago, the MSP [minimum support price] of corn was ₹1,800 per quintal while the market price was ₹1,200. Now the price has increased to ₹2,800 a quintal, benefitting farmers,” he said. Farmers, Gadkari added, are also gaining from the ₹50,000-crore ethanol economy.
In recent years, maize has become a major feedstock for ethanol production, accounting for over 42% of total output in the ethanol supply year (ESY) 2023–24. According to the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, maize cultivation expanded by nine lakh hectares in the 2025–26 kharif season. Oil marketing companies have contracted 484.35 crore litres of maize-based ethanol for ESY 2024–25.
However, concerns persist about competition with food and animal feed. The diversion of maize for biofuel has upset the demand-supply balance and turned India into a corn importer for the first time in decades.
Stressing the importance of ethanol production, Gadkari said, “At present, about 85% of crude oil requirements are met through imports. Fossil fuel imports worth ₹24 lakh crore are a challenge for our economy.” He also underlined the need to protect the agriculture, rural and tribal sectors, which together account for 65% of the population but contribute only 12% to India’s GDP.
At the event, JP Gupta, chair of the environment and climate change committee at PHDCCI, said India can become self-reliant in energy by producing ethanol from dent corn. Sadesh Sookraj, global decarbonisation advisor at IFC Washington, highlighted the role of corn in enabling a circular economy — from water positivity to bio-fertiliser generation — reducing both greenhouse emissions and fertiliser imports.
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Source : Outlook Planet
