India, June 4 -- The Indian government is increasingly focusing on a higher mix of ethanol in petrol. With the E20 petrol available across the country, the government is now emphasising increasing the ethanol blending to 85%. The automakers, too, have started working on their respective products to comply with the E85 petrol, which will have 85% ethanol blended with 15% petrol, in comparison to current E20 petrol, where 20% ethanol is mixed with 80% petrol.

Hero MotoCorp has just launched the flex fuel variants of the Splendor+ and HF Deluxe, which come with E85-compatible engines. During the launch event, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said that the E85 petrol will be substantially cheaper than the current E...