The Union Cabinet on Wednesday hiked the price of ethanol extracted from sugarcane for blending in petrol by up to Rs 1.47 per litre for 2021-22 marketing year starting December, as part of its target to achieve 20 percent doping by 2025.

Higher mixing of ethanol in petrol will help cut India its oil import bill and also benefit sugar cane farmers as well as sugar mills.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raised the price of ethanol extracted from sugarcane juice to Rs 63.45 per litre from the current Rs 62.65 per litre for the supply year beginning December 2021.

The approval will not only facilitate the continued policy of the government in providing price stability and remunerative prices for ethanol suppliers, but will also help in reducing the pending arrears of cane farmers, dependency on crude oil imports and will also help in savings in foreign exchange and bring benefits to the environment, the government said in a statement.

The rate for ethanol from C-heavy molasses has been increased to Rs 46.66 per litre from Rs 45.69 per litre currently, and that of ethanol from B-heavy to Rs 59.08 per litre from Rs 57.61 per litre, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said at a media briefing.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) buy ethanol at a price fixed by the government.

Thakur said the ethanol blending with petrol has touched 8 percent in the 2020-21 marketing year (December-November) and is expected to reach 10 percent in the next year.

Further, the Cabinet has approved incurring expenditure for reimbursing the losses under MSP operations for cotton during the cotton season (October to September) 2014-15 to 2020-21.

A committed price support of Rs 17,400 crore to the Cotton Commission of India (CCI) for the cotton seasons from 2014-15 to 2020-21 has also been approved during the meeting.

India has plans to increase the blending to 20 per cent by 2025.

Source: Firstpost