Minister sees Indian ethanol demand doubling in 4 years

India's ethanol demand for blending in gasoline will increase by nearly two times in the next four years, the country's power and renewable energy minister Raj Kumar Singh said.

The estimated ethanol requirement for blending in gasoline for the ethanol supply year between December 2022 and November 2023 is 5.42bn litres, Singh said on 14 March, citing a roadmap by government think-tank Niti Aayog.

The "Roadmap for ethanol blending in India 2020-2025" projects ethanol demand based on projected gasoline sales. It also forecasts that ethanol demand for gasoline blending will increase to 6.98bn l for the 2023-24 ethanol supply year, then to 9.88bn l for 2024-25 and to 10.2bn l for 2025-26.

India's current domestic ethanol production capacity is around 10.4bn l/yr. But the country is looking to divert more sugar for ethanol production in the October 2022-September 2023 sugar season to meet its goals for ethanol blending with gasoline.

Prime minister Narendra Modi launched E20 fuel— or fuel blended with 20pc ethanol — on 6 February.

The country also saved around 23.4bn rupees ($284mn) in foreign exchange during the 2021-22 ethanol supply year by blending ethanol with gasoline, Singh said, based on inputs from state-controlled IOC. This is likely because India was able to cut imports of the motor fuel during the period with ethanol blending in effect. India imported about 17,000 b/d of gasoline between December 2021 and November 2022, down by 36pc from around 27,000 b/d a year earlier, according to data from oil analytics firm Vortexa.

By Ryan Ang