India, Oct. 7 -- India spent years trying to put more ethanol into petrol. The goal was simple: reduce imported crude, send more money to domestic farmers and make fuel cleaner. What the policy was never meant to do was sell more electric scooters.

As E20 petrol became common across India, more vehicle owners started worrying about lower mileage and whether older vehicles could handle it properly. At the same time, electric two-wheeler sales started growing much faster. TVS moved to the top of the market, Ather sold more scooters and the overall EV market expanded quickly.

That does not prove E20 created the EV boom. But consumer sentiment, industry data and company commentary suggest it may have added one more reason for a petrol scoo...