India to start supplying petrol with 20% ethanol from April 2023: Puri

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.

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.

The original target for doping 10 per cent ethanol, extracted from sugarcane and other agri commodities, in petrol originally was November 2022.

On the occasion of World Biofuel Day on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the 2nd generation (2G) ethanol plant here.

The plant is part of a long series of steps taken by the government over the years to boost the production and use of biofuels in the country.

Built at a cost of over Rs 900 crore by Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the plant near the firm's Panipat refinery will turn about 2 lakh tonnes of rice straw (parali) annually into around 3 crore litres of ethanol.

Creating an end-use for the agri-crop residue would empower farmers and provide an additional income generation opportunity for them, Modi said.

The project will have zero liquid discharge. Through the reduction in the burning of rice straw, the project will contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gases equivalent to about 3 lakh tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions per annum, which can be understood as equivalent to replacing nearly 63,000 cars annually on the country's roads.

Puri said 10 per cent ethanol blend translated into a forex impact of over Rs 41,500 crore, reduced greenhouse gas emissions of 27 lakh tonnes and also led to farmers being paid over Rs 40,600 crore expeditiously.

India is the world's fifth largest producer of ethanol after the US, Brazil, EU and China. Ethanol worldwide is largely used for consumption but nations like Brazil and India also dope it in petrol.

Supply of petrol with 20 per cent ethanol will result in a saving of an estimated USD 4 billion annually.