New Delhi, July 10 -- The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has defended India's ethanol blending programme, rejecting claims that the country moved too quickly compared to nations like Brazil. The Ministry said India's transition towards ethanol-blended petrol has been a gradual, carefully planned process spanning more than two decades, backed by policy reforms, investment and expansion of production capacity.

In an official response on why India appeared to accelerate its ethanol blending targets while Brazil took decades to build its ecosystem, the Ministry said ethanol as a fuel is not a recent innovation and has been used globally for over a century.

The Ministry highlighted that ethanol blending initiatives in India predate th...