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Informist, Thursday, Jun. 4, 2026

 

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--Oil minister:Want to shift to water resistant crops like maize for ethanol 
--Oil Minister: Planning for 5,000 flex fuel dispensers by end of 2027 
--Road Minister:Working to make iso-butanol to bring alternate fuel to diesel 
--Minister:Potential to be net exporter of sustainable aviation fuel in 2 yrs 
--Road Minister: Work on to produce sustainable aviation fuel with ethanol 
--Road Minister: Starting hydrogen run buses, trucks in India 
--Road Minister: Beginning project to produce methanol from low-quality coal 
--Oil Minister: To have up to 500 flex fuel dispensers in major cities by Dec 
--Oil minister: Will have 50-100 flex fuel dispensers in major cities soon 
--Oil minister: Making fuel from sea weed on pilot basis 
--Oil minister:India 2nd to Japan in lowest fuel price hike among 193 nations 
--Oil Minister: Maintained near normalcy in fuel supply despite W Asia crisis

 

NEW DELHI – Road Highways and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari Thursday made a pitch to Maruti Suzuki and all other major automobile companies to design a technology that can remodel existing engines into flex-fuel compliant engines. According to him, changing EuroVI-emmission compliant into flex fuel compatible cars will help in significantly lowering India's consumption of petrol. 

 

"Because there is pollution and economic problems," Gadkari said at the launch of Maruti Suzuki's flex fuel car. Consumers can be given a choice to upgrade their cars' existing engines, he added. According to him, ethnaol production and availability of blended fuel are not a problem currently and the above move can drastically help cut import of fuels.

 

Flex-fuel cars are equipped with engines that can run on standard petrol, pure bioethanol, or any blend of the two in a single, common fuel tank. Flex-fuel vehicles are most commonly associated with E85, a fuel blend that contains up to 85% ethanol and 15% petrol. The Indian government has pushed for blended fuel in a big way with the intention to limiting the use of petrol entirely. As such, there will be a day when petrol use may be wiped out entirely, and our engines must be prepared for it, Gadkari said. 

 

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri, who was also present at the event, said that to support higher transition into blended fuel, the government is in the process of setting up 50-100 flex fuel dispensers across major cities, including New Delhi. The plan is to increase the count to 500 by the end of December and to 5,000 by end of December 2027. India is looking to expand its mobility and ethanol blending capacity, which is currently at 20%, up from 1.4% in 2014. 

 

He said if 1% of annual petrol vehicle sales in India during the ethanol supply year 2026-27 (Nov-Oct) shifted to E85, it would create a demand for 40 million litres of ethanol and result in INR 2.66 billion in payments to distilleries. This small shift to E85 fuel will allow India reduce crude oil imports by around 28,000 metric tonnes. Puri said that around INR 1.6 billion would flow directly to Indian farmers, instead of going out of the country for oil imports. 

 

The government is not only working on replacing petrol, but also diesel, the ministers said. According to Gadkari, isobutanol has emerged as a strong alternative to conventional diesel, after unsuccessful ethanol-diesel blending trials. Isobutanol is a biofuel made from ethanol. It contains more energy than ethanol and is less corrosive, making it better suited for blending with diesel. 

 

Gadkari also said that India has already begun work on producing sustainable aviation fuel agrresively. India is currently producing 78,000 tonnes annually and could become a net exporter of sustainable aviation fuel within two years, he said. "We now have the potential to go from an energy importing nation to an energy exporting nation," he said. He added that the government aims to eventually power fighter jets and helicopters using sustainable aviation fuel.

 

The road minister also said the government is in the process of starting pilot hydrogen-powered buses and trucks on 10 roads across the country. "In this, Indian Oil, Tata, Ashok Leland, Volvo, Reliance, NTPC, are in," he said. However, hydrogen fuel stations is "a little dark area" on which work remains to be done, he said. 

 

Speaking about other alternative fuels, Gadkari also said that the production of methanol from low-quality, high-ash coal can cut India's massive crude oil import bills and reduce logistics costs. Through coal gasification, the government aims to convert abundant indigenous coal into alternative fuels, bringing massive economic and environmental benefits.

Hardeep Singh Puri also said that the government is now making fuels from seaweed as part of a pilot project. For further innovation of flex fuels and ethanol derivatives, Puri said that India must shift to water resistant crops like maize for ethanol. Calling for the need of energy transition, Puri highlighted that India has maintained "near normalcy" in fuel supply despite the West Asia crisis. Alternative fuel usage will help manage supply bottlenecks better, he said. He pointed out that India is second to Japan in ensuring lower fuel price hikes among 193 nations.  End

 

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta and Sagar Sen

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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