Food Minister Pralhad Joshi sees India’s potential as ethanol exporter
India’s Food Minister Pralhad Joshi urged ethanol producers to boost output and explore exports, aiming to make India a global ethanol hub. Speaking at GEMA’s event, he praised India’s early achievement of E20 and highlighted new biofuel targets. Ethanol, he said, supports energy security and rural development, aligning with India’s vision of a developed nation by 2047.
India’s Food Minister, Pralhad Joshi, has given a clarion call to the ethanol producers and suppliers to ramp up production to position India as a global exporter of ethanol.
Speaking at an event organised by the Grain Ethanol Manufacturers Association (GEMA), in New Delhi on 18th July 2025, the Minister said, “Looking ahead, I encourage the industry to enter the global market by exporting ethanol, and achieve the vision of Hon’ble Home Minister Amit Shah of exporting ethanol. Sustainable Innovation, new technologies, partnering with farmers and promoting decentralised industrialisation in rural India, will help us become a global model for sustainable development, energy, security and rural prosperity, and help us achieve the target of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047.
The Minister said that ethanol is a key pillar of India’s energy transformation. “Achieving E20 five years ahead of target reflects the visionary leadership of the Prime Minister”, he said.
To further diversify the biofuel sector, the Minister said that the Government set a target of 5% biodiesel blending target by 2030, a SAF blending target of 1 % by 2027, 2% by 2028 and 5% by 2030.
“The Government has also launched the National Green Hydrogen Mission for the production, usage and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives and set up a Centre of Excellence for Biofuels in National Sugar Institute, Kanpur for further innovation in this space” he added.
MoS, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Nimuben Bambhaniya said, “India is the 3rd largest ethanol producer and growing fast. Under the Prime Minister’s leadership, ethanol is not just a fuel policy but a rural empowerment programme. As we march toward net zero, biofuels are a powerful nation-building move.”
The government has a target of achieving 20% ethanol blending in petrol by Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26. Since the inception of the EBP Programme, ethanol blending has increased from 38 crore litres in the ESY 2013-14 to over 707.4 crore litres in ESY 2023-24. This expansion helped India achieve an average ethanol blending rate of 14.6% during ESY 2023–24.
During the current ESY 2024–25, ethanol blending in petrol reached 19.9% in June 2025. The cumulative average blending rate from November 2024 to June 2025 stood at 18.9%.
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Source : Chinimandi
