India’s Ethanol Policy Emerges as a Global Biofuel Model: GEMA

July 23, 2026

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(Chemical Industry Digest) India’s rapid progress in ethanol blending is emerging as a global benchmark for countries seeking to enhance energy security through renewable fuels. According to the Grain Ethanol Manufacturers Association (GEMA), India’s policy-driven approach to ethanol production and blending demonstrates how governments can successfully reduce dependence on fossil fuel imports while promoting sustainable economic growth. Arushi Jain, Joint Secretary, GEMA, speaking at The Alcohol School Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, highlighted India’s “Roadmap to E20 & Beyond”, highlighting the country’s achievements in ethanol blending, policy reforms and feedstock diversification.

India Showcases Ethanol Success at International Conference

During the conference, GEMA presented India’s ethanol roadmap to delegates from across the global biofuel industry. The session attracted significant interest, particularly from Thailand, which currently operates an E10 ethanol blending programme and is evaluating higher blending levels despite feedstock-related challenges. The presentation highlighted how India’s long-term policy support, diversified raw material base and industry collaboration have enabled the country to rapidly scale up ethanol production and blending.

India Becomes the World’s Third-Largest Ethanol Producer

India has now emerged as the world’s third-largest ethanol producer, successfully achieving the 20% ethanol blending (E20) target through the use of multiple feedstocks, including maize, rice and sugarcane. During the Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2024-25, the country blended approximately 10.39 billion litres of ethanol into petrol. Furthermore, ethanol blending volumes are projected to rise to nearly 12 billion litres during ESY 2025-26, reflecting the continued expansion of India’s biofuel programme. According to GEMA, this diversified approach has strengthened India’s energy security while reducing reliance on imported crude oil and lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

Policy Support Drives India’s Ethanol Growth

Jain mentioned that India’s ethanol journey demonstrates the importance of long-term policy planning and strong collaboration between government and industry. She noted that India’s experience proves renewable fuel programmes can deliver multiple benefits simultaneously by improving energy security, supporting cleaner transportation, boosting rural incomes, reducing fossil fuel imports and encouraging investment in the biofuel sector. She also emphasised that although every country has unique agricultural resources and policy priorities, India’s ethanol programme offers valuable lessons for governments planning to expand renewable fuel adoption.

Building a Complete Biofuel Ecosystem

According to GEMA, achieving higher ethanol blending requires more than setting blending targets. Jain highlighted the importance of encouraging innovation in higher ethanol blends, flex-fuel vehicles, second-generation (2G) ethanol and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) to ensure long-term growth of the global biofuel industry.

Global Collaboration Will Accelerate Renewable Fuel Adoption

GEMA believes that continued policy stability, technological innovation and international knowledge-sharing will play a crucial role in accelerating the global transition to renewable fuels. As more countries look to strengthen energy security and decarbonise their transport sectors, India’s policy-led ethanol success offers a practical and scalable model for developing sustainable biofuel ecosystems. As per the press release, through coordinated policy reforms, diversified feedstocks and strong industry participation, India has positioned itself as a global leader in the renewable fuels sector while providing valuable lessons for the international biofuel industry. READ MORE

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Ethanol lessons for India from Brazil: Transition took decades of building trust, offering options (Scroll.IN)
Bioethanol: Fast track to mobility decarbonisation, coordinated (Brazilian Development Bank and Centre for Strategic Studies and Management)

Excerpt from Scroll.IN: Customers have flex-fuel cars and can choose between different percentages of ethanol blends or pure petrol depending on price and usage.

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In Brazil, customers can choose between different percentages of ethanol blends or pure petrol depending on the price and usage. Most cars sold here are flex-fuel vehicles, built to run on different petrol-ethanol blends. Brazil has offered this choice for decades.

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In another part of the world, nearly 15,000 km away, at a petrol pump in Bhopal’s Katara Hills, the scene looks similar. Vehicles come and go, attendants fill tanks, customers decide fast. But one thing is different: the choice on offer. In India, the government made 20% ethanol blended petrol, called E20, the default fuel across all fuel stations under its ethanol blending programme.

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Brazil allowed enough time for non-compatible vehicles to phase out, built its system around flex-fuel vehicles, and allowed consumers to choose their fuel based on price. India is moving differently, with E20 becoming the default petrol while flex-fuel vehicles remain rare. Separate fuel choice at the pump too barely exists.

Brazil matters to India’s ethanol debate because India has often looked to Brazil’s long ethanol experience while expanding blending. India’s ethanol roadmap has referred to Brazil’s experience with ethanol and flex-fuel vehicles. The two countries have also discussed bioenergy cooperation, including ethanol, higher blends and flex-fuel technology. Brazilian ethanol representatives have engaged with Indian government and automobile-sector forums. India’s discussion around flex-fuel vehicles echoes parts of Brazil’s pathway, where ethanol moved from blending to direct use in flex-fuel vehicles.

However, the comparison of India’s and Brazil’s ethanol transition also shows the difference. Brazil built its ethanol system over decades through transition of vehicles, rigorous testing, competitive prices, logistics and consumer trust. India’s move from low ethanol blending to E20 has been rapid.

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What India tested before E20
India’s ethanol transition has its own testing history, though many of the details are not as publicly available as Brazil’s long ethanol record.

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India’s ethanol journey began with pilot projects in 2001 and the sale of 5% ethanol-blended petrol in selected states from 2003. Average blending was still around 5% in 2019-20, before the government accelerated the target from E10 to E20 and advanced the E20 deadline to 2025-26.

The roadmap also recognised vehicle compatibility as part of the transition, saying manufacturers should define and display whether vehicles can use fuels such as E20, E85 or E100. It also noted the need to address material compatibility and corrosion risks in ethanol-blended fuels.

The Automotive Research Association of India and the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, have publicly referred to E20 testing on older and newer two-wheelers and four-wheelers, including checks on emissions, fuel economy, durability and material compatibility.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, India’s E20 adoption was a “calibrated, standards-backed journey”, while the Automotive Research Association of India has said studies covered performance, fuel economy, durability, long-term usage, accelerated ageing and material compatibility.

Mongabay-India could not find detailed vehicle-wise results in a public government repository.

The government has acknowledged that E20 can cause a marginal reduction in fuel efficiency in some vehicles. In a March 2025 reply to Parliament, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said E20 results in a marginal reduction in fuel efficiency for four-wheelers designed for E10 and calibrated for E20. The reply also said SIAM had informed the committee that hardware changes and engine tuning could reduce this loss, and that the E20 roadmap did not find major issues in vehicle performance, engine wear or engine oil deterioration.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has said concerns about drastic mileage loss are misplaced, noting that mileage depends on several factors beyond fuel type.

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Brazil’s long road

Luiz Augusto Horta Nogueira, a Brazilian bioenergy expert and former technical director of Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, or ANP, told Mongabay-India that India’s ethanol transition appears strikingly fast when compared with Brazil’s long journey.

“We took almost a century to do that and India has done it in five years,” he said.

Brazil introduced mandatory ethanol blending in petrol in 1931, but ethanol’s roots in Brazil’s sugar economy go further into the country’s agricultural and industrial history. The major political push came after the oil shocks of the 1970s, when Brazil launched Proálcool, its National Alcohol Programme, to promote domestic ethanol production and reduce dependence on imported fuel.

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Nicola Pamplona has watched Brazil’s ethanol transition for around three decades, both as a journalist and as a vehicle user. He said that during the initial period, choosing between a petrol and an ethanol-powered car was not simple.

The turning point, he said, was flex-fuel technology. “The introduction of flex-fuel vehicles was the key driver behind the industry’s success,” he said. “Drivers gained the freedom to choose which fuel to use based on price or environmental considerations.”

This freedom changed how Brazilian drivers related to ethanol. They could use ethanol during the sugarcane harvest season, when it is cheaper, and shift to petrol during the off-season or for longer trips.

But Pamplona said his own choice is not only economic. “As a driver, I have always preferred ethanol over petrol for environmental reasons. I do not mind paying a little more in exchange for emitting fewer pollutants,” he said.

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Public sector oil marketing companies had started selling E20 petrol from February 6, 2023.

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The missing bridge between fuel and vehicles

Horta said consumer confidence has to be treated as part of ethanol policy. “Consumer confidence is really an issue to be tackled seriously,” he said. Like India, Brazil also had to respond to scepticism and confusion around ethanol. “There is a permanent fight to clarify, to inform,” he said.

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Evandro Herrera Gussi, the head of UNICA, who participated in meetings in India, spoke to Mongabay-India and said fears around ethanol blends are not new. He argued that ethanol is often blamed for problems that may come from vehicle age or poor maintenance. “The truth about ethanol, it’s better for engines. It’s better for cars,” he said.

Horta, speaking from his mechanical engineering background, also defended ethanol’s technical properties while also recognising that ethanol has lower energy content per litre. “In my opinion, I am a mechanical engineer, in many aspects, ethanol is a higher quality fuel compared with petrol,” he said.

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A higher ethanol blend may have technical benefits, but if drivers experience lower mileage without a clear price advantage, the transition becomes a trust issue. In a market where E20 is becoming the default, consumers also need clarity on vehicle compatibility and warranties.

The larger lesson, both Horta and Gussi suggested, is that higher blends need testing before trust can follow. “A lot of tests,” Gussi said. “To achieve E20, to achieve E27, to achieve E30, to achieve E35, nothing without tests.”

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The government also said the tests were monitored by multiple automotive-sector organisations who declared the E30 blend safe for two- and four-wheeled fleets. Brazil also put out these test reports in public domain to build consumer confidence.

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In addition to E30 petrol, Brazil has a separate ethanol pump for its flex-fuel fleet. Sindicom put the flex-fuel share at about 75% of Brazil’s national fleet and said Proálcool helped finance research and development in flex-fuel engines. That vehicle transition is central to Brazil’s ethanol story because ethanol demand is not created only through a blending mandate, but also through vehicles that allow drivers to choose. READ MORE