India has increased its ethanol blending programme (EBP) by many times according to Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.

Speaking at the 2nd Annual India Leadership Summit of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, Pradhan said, “From less than 1 per cent ethanol blending in 2015, we have increased our EBP to 6 per cent. We are working to push up the percentage even further.”

“Bioenergy is also being pushed in a big way with the government's focus on ways to monetise the 600 million tonnes of non-fossilised biomass available in the country,” he said.

Commenting on the India-US partnership, Pradhan said, “Energy is increasingly an important component of our bilateral trade. Our crude oil import from the US was almost nil in 2014. Now, the total import of petroleum products from the US including LNG in 2018-2019 stood at over $7 billion.”