India, March 29 -- India's growing dependence on crude oil imports which is nearly 80% of its requirement has made ENERGY SECURITY a national priority. With global crude prices shooting up on the back of the Iran-US-Israel war, we have to seriously and aggressively push for ethanol blending as a strategic alternative. Ethanol blending in petrol has increased significantly over the past decade, from about 1-2% in 2014 to nearly 15% today. The government is targeting 20% blending (E20) by 2025-26 as this is expected to become mandatory nationwide.

This shift is structural and policy-driven, not cyclical, ensuring long-term demand visibility. The ethanol ecosystem in India is primarily driven by sugar companies as ethanol is produced from s...