India, March 23 -- With West Asia in turmoil and crude oil prices rising, the All-India Distillers' Association (AIDA) has offered to supply ethanol blends exceeding 20 per cent with petrol, saying the move could proportionally reduce India's dependence on imported crude oil.

In a letter to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, AIDA Deputy Director General Bharati Balaji said the ethanol industry was prepared to go beyond the E20 target already achieved by the country.

"Now with the Middle East entangled in a war and oil prices having started increasing, we as an ethanol industry are ready to offer ethanol more than 20 per cent, which will reduce the import of crude proportionally," she said in the letter.

She s...