NEW DELHI: The food ministry is readying to send a fresh proposal to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) seeking an increase in prices of ethanol purchased by state-owned oil firms. The aim is to help improve liquidity in the sugar industry and enable sugar firms to pay dues of cane farmers for the ongoing 2018-19 season, along with increasing availability of ethanol for the government’s ethanol-blended petrol programme devised to promote use of environment-friendly fuels, said officials.
“Sugarcane arrears have come down considerably due to various initiatives of the government. For the 2016-17 season, arrears are at Rs 492 crore and for 2017-18 the figure was Rs 4,299 crore till December 14. In consultation with the PMO, we are sending a fresh proposal to increase ethanol price to ensure payments to farmers are timely,” said a food ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.
Sugarcane arrears had reached a peak of Rs 23,232 crore in May.