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By:

Sagari Gupta

24 March 2026 at 2:16:04 pm

From Green Fuel to Strategic Fuel

India’s ethanol revolution will succeed only if its costs are shared more fairly. On June 13, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari approved regulations giving E100 fuel legal status in India. The move does more than add two new fuel grades to India’s pumps. It marks the evolution of ethanol from a green fuel and sugar-surplus solution into a strategic fuel designed to reduce India’s exposure to external energy shocks. For over a decade, the older version of the ethanol programme delivered real,...

From Green Fuel to Strategic Fuel

India’s ethanol revolution will succeed only if its costs are shared more fairly. On June 13, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari approved regulations giving E100 fuel legal status in India. The move does more than add two new fuel grades to India’s pumps. It marks the evolution of ethanol from a green fuel and sugar-surplus solution into a strategic fuel designed to reduce India’s exposure to external energy shocks. For over a decade, the older version of the ethanol programme delivered real, measurable gains. Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said on June 4 that the ethanol blending programme has saved India Rs. 1.84 lakh crore in foreign exchange and added Rs. 1.58 lakh crore to farmers’ earnings since 2014-15, while substituting 302 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil and cutting 909 lakh metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. The new policy answers a harder question. India imports around 85 percent of its crude oil requirements. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil moves, keep reminding policymakers what that dependence costs. Gadkari has put India’s annual fossil fuel import bill at roughly Rs. 22 lakh crore, near $250 billion at current exchange rates. Every litre of ethanol that replaces imported crude is a small subtraction from that bill and a small addition to India’s room to manoeuvre when oil prices spike. That logic is sound. The fairness of the transition is a separate question. Uneven Costs Energy security is a public good: a steadier rupee, lower inflation and reduced reliance on oil exporters benefit the entire economy. Yet the costs are far less evenly shared. The immediate winners are sugar-producing states, distilleries and the government, which enjoys a lower import bill and greater diplomatic flexibility. Nor is the environmental case as straightforward as the carbon figures suggest. Producing a litre of sugarcane-based ethanol requires about 2,860 litres of water, according to NITI Aayog. Most ethanol comes from sugarcane and maize grown in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab - states already overexploiting groundwater. Ethanol is also competing with food and feed. Maize prices have risen as distilleries compete with the poultry industry, while India has shifted from being a maize exporter to an importer. The Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy estimates that meeting ethanol targets by 2030 could require additional maize acreage equivalent to a quarter of India’s farmland. In Rajasthan’s Tibbi, farmers have already protested against a new ethanol plant. A cleaner path exists. Second-generation ethanol made from paddy straw, sugarcane bagasse and other crop waste does not compete with food or fresh water the same way first-generation ethanol does. India has a handful of 2G plants running, including one at Panipat, but high capital costs and slow technology adoption keep them marginal next to sugarcane and grain-based ethanol. E85 and E100 need flex-fuel vehicles built for higher ethanol shares. Maruti Suzuki and Hero MotoCorp have begun rolling out flex-fuel models, but as of April this year no automaker had a vehicle commercially available that ran on E85, and Maruti’s own flex-fuel prototype only appeared in June. Neither company has disclosed what the flex-fuel variants will cost against standard petrol models. The fuel itself is cheaper at the pump. Delhi’s first E85 station, opened on June 5 at Indian Oil’s Pusa Road outlet, priced the fuel at Rs. 82.12 a litre, about Rs. 20 below regular E20 petrol. But ethanol carries less energy than petrol, and E85 cuts mileage by 20 to 35 percent compared with petrol. A cheaper litre that takes you fewer kilometres is not automatically a cheaper kilometre. Gadkari has asked the finance ministry to cut GST on E85 from 18 percent to 5 percent, which would help close that gap. The GST Council has not decided yet, and its decision in the coming weeks will tell us whether the government means to share the cost of this transition or leave it with early adopters. There is a fiscal cost behind the consumer one. Oil marketing companies are set to pay farmers close to Rs. 40,000 crore in 2025 alone under the blending programme, on top of the subsidies and soft loans that prop up ethanol distilleries. Infrastructure tells a similar story. The government’s rollout plan covers Delhi-NCR and the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur corridor first, with a target of 500 E85 outlets by December 2026 and 5,000 by the end of 2027. A household outside those corridors that buys a flex-fuel vehicle today pays for infrastructure it cannot yet use. This is where the comparison with E20 matters. The earlier blending programme spread its costs thinly across every petrol buyer in the country, through a few percentage points of ethanol nobody had to think about or pay extra for. E85 and E100 work differently. They ask a smaller group of early adopters to absorb a vehicle upgrade, a pricing gap and an infrastructure lag all at once, in exchange for a national benefit every taxpayer will eventually share. Fairer Transition None of this is an argument against E85 and E100. India needs to cut its dependence on imported crude, and ethanol is the most realistic domestic substitute on the table right now. The environmental costs of first-generation ethanol are real too. The question is who absorbs its costs, and what kind of ethanol pays for it. The transition can be made fairer in four ways: extend any GST cut on E85 to flex-fuel vehicles; link vehicle sales to the availability of E85 pumps; require automakers to disclose price premiums and real-world mileage; and shift more incentives towards second-generation ethanol that does not strain water tables or food supplies. For a decade, India’s ethanol programme delivered foreign-exchange savings and higher farm incomes without imposing visible costs on consumers or water-stressed regions. E85 and E100 change that equation. They turn a public good - energy security - into an upfront private cost borne first by households and farming regions, while the wider benefits are shared by the country as a whole. (The writer is an independent public policy researcher. Views personal.)

Laddoos, Loyalty, and the Line of Control

These morale-boosting, desi ghee churma laddoos, shaped by camaraderie and esprit de corps, carried the spirit of a man who simply refused to be left out of battle.

The Indian Army proved its mettle again in the 1999 Kargil War. Brave soldiers, determined units, and strong leaders ensured the Tricolour flew over all Indian soil up to the Line of Control, despite early setbacks and a missed intelligence warning of large Pakistani intrusions in rugged Western Ladakh. The Batalik sub-sector was among the most remote and underdeveloped, making evicting a well-entrenched enemy even harder. Our Assault Team fought from mid-June to late July 1999 in Muntho Dhalo and beyond, up to the Line of Control.


In the third week of July, we were tasked with clearing a key enemy stronghold on the Line of Control watershed. We had to advance to a ridge already secured by another unit, reconnoitre the target, and launch quickly. Movement had to be at night, as daylight drew accurate enemy fire. Time was critical; we had to link up with the unit on the adjacent ridge before the first light.


No sooner had we advanced after the last light than the column halted, and Company Havildar Major Digh Ram, our "Tail-end Charlie", asked for a two-minute break. Tough and experienced since the IPKF days, Digh Ram was a respected junior leader. I allowed the brief pause as we soon moved again. But ten minutes later, he asked for another short break. We moved within five minutes. When it happened a third time, I lost patience; time was slipping away, and no one explained why.


I called Digh Ram forward to ask what was wrong. After some probing, he admitted to a severe stomach upset since the afternoon. Such infections were common due to poor hygiene and scarce mountain stream water. The others knew, but the sergeant major kept it from me, fearing Digh Ram would be excluded. He couldn’t bear missing the mission. Now that the truth was out, I ordered him to return to the Forward Base with a young soldier. Reluctantly, dejected and heartbroken, he obeyed, feeling "left out of the battle.


We moved swiftly, racing against time. Loads felt heavier above 4,500 metres, slowing us down. To cut weight, we shared essentials but carried enough ammo for any contingency. Despite the burden, our fitness and acclimatisation helped us beat daylight and link up with the other unit before dawn. There, we completed the final reconnaissance and refined our plan.


Over three days and nights, with the blessing of Maa Durge Bhawani, all went to plan. We evicted the enemy from South Saddle. Standing in silence, we saw deep into PoK. The watershed was now fully under our brigade’s control, marking the end of operations in Muntho Dhalo, Batalik sub-sector.


But this story is less about our success and more about Havildar Major Digh Ram, who simply couldn't be "left out of battle". During reconnaissance, we saw that enemy positions on the reverse slope—now partly visible and within 600 metres—could be hit with shoulder-fired rocket launchers. With extra rounds, we could weaken them before the final assault, reducing casualties. The Brigade Commander approved my radio request for more time and 40 additional rounds. The ammunition was hauled up from the Forward Base by our men, supported by troops from a sister unit, led by none other than Digh Ram. He was back in action!


About ten days before the mission, we hit a jackpot—an abandoned Pakistani post stocked with rations, including sealed tins of desi ghee. In the days leading up to the operation, we feasted on it at the forward base. Seizing the moment, Havildar Major Digh Ram made desi ghee ke churma laddoos—two per comrade—for his Band of Brothers before moving out with the rocket launcher rounds. The extra time and ammo from the Brigade Commander let him return where he belonged—this time, with laddoos he’d made himself. Over the radio, I checked with the doctor about Digh Ram’s condition: severe amoebiasis and dehydration. Strong antibiotics and sheer grit were helping him recover fast.


These Churma Laddoos tasted extra special and served as a morale booster. They were made by a man who was extra special, made by using the binding of camaraderie and esprit de corps. Their taste was still lingering when we stood proudly on the South Saddle watershed. Company Havildar Major Digh Ram was with us, smiling. He could not be left out of the battle!!


In the years that followed, he deservedly rose to the rank of Subedar Major of our unit and later faded away from the army as a proud honorary captain. He lives in Haryana, still full of energy and enterprise


(The writer is an Indian Army veteran and Vice President CRM, ANSEC HR Services Ltd. He is a skydiver and a specialist in Security and Risk Management. Views personal.)

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