India's Ethanol Blended Petrol programme dates back to 2003: A timeline from E5 to E85

India's push for E20 fuel for vehicles drew mixed reactions from across the country. Many claimed that the use of E20 fuel, in place of normal petrol, may cause vehicle breakdown or reduced mileage.

But several industry experts dismissed these claims on Saturday (4 July), saying that E20 petrol has been scientifically tested and is safe for vehicles.

On June 5, India launched E85 fuel, a high-ethanol blend designed for flex-fuel vehicles, at ₹20 a litre discount to normal petrol.

While E20 fuel is a blend of 20 percent ethanol and 80 percent petrol, E85 contains 80-85 per cent ethanol and 14-19 per cent petrol, and can be used only in flex-fuel vehicles capable of operating on ethanol blends ranging from E20 to E100.

India's Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme is not new. It dates back to 2003. The programme had started early with 5 percent EBP in 20 states and 4 UTs of India.

Here's the full timeline:

In August 2025, India's oil minister Hardeep Singh Puri shed light on the programme ever since PM Modi came to power in 2014. He said ethanol blending was merely 1.53 percent in 2014.

"By 2022, India achieved 10 percent blending, five months ahead of schedule," he said. Singh said that the original target of 20 percent blending (E20) by 2030 was advanced to 2025.

"The country will now gradually scale towards E25, E27, and E30 in a phased, calibrated manner with the support of BIS standards and fiscal incentives, Singh had said.

From E5 to E85

2001: India started blending ethanol in petrol on a pilot basis.

2003: Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme was launched

2006: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas directed the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) to sell 5% EBP (E5) in 20 states and 4 UTs.

"Even though the programme started early it faced multiple inherent challenges leading to slow adoption and growth. But the programme did not meet success," the government had said in its report.

2014: Re-introduced administered price mechanism for ethanol to be procured under the EBP Programme. "Opened alternative route for ethanol production (2nd Generation including Petrochemicals), directed Oil PSEs to set up bio-refineries," the report said.

2014-15: Tendering processes simplified– Multiple EOI, transportation slabs and rates.

May 2016: IDR Act Amendment on May 14, 2016, to clarify on the roles of central and state governments for continuous supply of ethanol to be blended with petrol under EBP Programme

2016-17: Regular Interaction with states and all other stake holders to address issues regarding the EBP Programme - This is an ongoing process.

June 2018: Notified forward-looking and updated National Policy on Biofuels – 2018, involving all stakeholders

July 2018: Interest Subvention Scheme to improve and increase ethanol production capacity in the country. The government to provide interest (interest subvention), for a period of 5 years. GST on Ethanol lowered from 18% to 5%.

2018-19: Allowed conversion of B heavy molasses, sugarcane juice and damaged food grains to ethanol. Fixed differentiated ex-mill ethanol price and sourcing of raw material utilised for ethanol production given priority. Marked beginning of differentiated ethanol pricing, based on raw material utilised for ethanol production.

April 2019: Extension of EBP Programme to the whole of India except the Island UTs of Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep island

Sept 2019: New sources sugar and sugar syrup introduced for ethanol production at fixed remunerative price

Oct 2019: Published “Ethanol Procurement Policy on a long-term basis under EBP Programme"

August 2020: One-time registration of ethanol suppliers for long term, including giving them visibility of ethanol demand for 5 years

Sept 2020: OMCs started to provide Off-take guarantee letter and consent to sign tripartite agreement with ethanol suppliers and bankers to support the ethanol capacity expansion projects.

Oct 2020: Further ease of tender conditions by OMCs like one time document submission, quarterly bank guarantees, multiple transportation rate slabs and transportation rates being linked to Retail Selling Price (RSP) of diesel, reduction in security deposit and applicable penalty on non-supplied quantity etc.

Approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee (NBCC) to utilise surplus stock of rice lying with Food Corporation of India (FCI) to be released to the distillers for ethanol production.

Nov 2020: Approval of NBCC to utilise maize for ethanol production. Interest subvention scheme for enhancement and augmentation of ethanol production capacity extended to grain based distilleries.

December 2020: OMCs have increased their ethanol storage capacity from 5.39 Crore litres in November 2017 to 16.9 Crore litres till December 2020, thereby providing ethanol storage cover of over 20 days at their depots. Amount spent by OMCs is approximately `200 Crore – This is an ongoing process.

June 2021: NITI Aayog released a report on ‘Roadmap for Ethanol Blending in India 2020-25’

April 2022: Government achieved its milestone of 10% ethanol blending (E10) across the country.

March 2025: India formally hit the 20% ethanol blending target, five years ahead of the original 2030 timeline.

April 1, 2026: The nationwide mandate took effect, requiring all retail petrol pumps to sell only E20 petrol.

June 2026: Hardeep Singh Puri launched E85 fuel at an IndianOil retail outlet in New Delhi on the occasion of World Environment Day 2026. E85 is priced nearly ₹20 per litre lower than conventional petrol.

The rollout commences across 48 Public Sector OMC’s retail outlets (ROs) in the country, enabling flex-fuel vehicle users to access this cleaner fuel. The initiative is slated for nationwide expansion.

"The same would be scaled up to 500 ROs by December 2026 and about 5000 ROs by December 2027 and help raise India’s aggregate ethanol blending levels to nearly 26 per cent by 2030-31," the government said in a press release on June 5.

While India has made significant strides with its E20 blending program, transitioning to higher blends like E85 (85% ethanol) and E100 (pure ethanol) creates a substantial surge in demand, estimated to be three to five times higher than current requirements.