New Delhi: The Centre Thursday defended its ethanol-blending programme in Parliament, asserting that E20 petrol does not adversely affect “legacy vehicles”, arguing that the ethanol policy played a critical role in protecting Indian consumers as crude prices surged globally during the ongoing West Asia crisis.
In a written reply to a question by DMK MP Dr T Sumathy in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi said petrol prices could have climbed to around Rs 125 per litre when the Indian crude basket touched nearly $135 a barrel at the peak of the West Asia conflict.Instead, he stated that consumers in Delhi continued to pay Rs. 94.77 per litre, aided by government interventions, diversified crude sourcing and the availability of domestically produced ethanol procured by oil marketing companies (OMCs) at about Rs 70 per litre.
“The market price of petrol could have been around Rs 125 per litre. However, Indian consumers continued to pay only Rs 94.77 per litre (Delhi), also because OMCs could procure ethanol at around Rs 70 per litre,” the minister stated in the written reply.The government also rejected concerns that higher ethanol blending harms older vehicles, saying extensive laboratory testing, field trials and real-world operating experience have found no adverse impact on vehicle performance or abnormal wear and tear in legacy vehicles running on E20 fuel.The studies, it said, were conducted in consultation with the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Indian Oil Corporation, Indian Institute of Petroleum and automobile manufacturers before E20 was rolled out.
