Boosting Maize Supply Crucial to Achieve Ethanol Blending Goals

21-Apr-2025 04:24 PM

New Delhi. As India raises its ethanol blending target in petrol from the current 20% to 30% by 2030 to cut down on petroleum imports and promote clean energy, experts say a sharp increase in maize supply is essential. Ethanol derived solely from sugarcane will not be sufficient to meet this ambitious goal.

Industry leaders, including Atul Chaturvedi, Executive Chairman of Shree Renuka Sugars, highlight that while the sugar industry can supply around 7 billion liters of ethanol annually, the country will require 15–16 billion liters to meet the 30% blending target. This shortfall of 7–8 billion liters must come from grain-based distilleries, with maize playing a key role.

However, achieving this will not be easy. Producing the required quantity of ethanol would demand 250–300 lakh tonnes of maize, putting pressure on its availability for other key sectors like animal feed, poultry, and starch manufacturing. Balancing this demand will be critical.

Brazil, despite being a global leader in sugarcane and corn production and having decades of experience in ethanol production, has only reached a 27% ethanol blending rate.

This highlights the challenge ahead for India and the importance of scaling up maize production while ensuring supply to other industries is not compromised.