Sugar mills have contracted to supply 170 crore litres of ethanol to oil marketing companies (OMCs) for the year ending November and out of that 92.5 crore litres have been delivered so far for blending with petrol, according to industry data. The OMCs have been able to achieve over 5 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol.

During the previous ethanol supply year 2018-19 (December to November), 190 crore litres of ethanol were supplied.

“Ethanol supply contracts for 170 crore litres have been entered into between ethanol manufacturers/sugar mills and oil marketing companies (OMCs) for the current ethanol supply year (Dec-Nov) 2019-20,” the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said in a statement.

The association said 92.5 crore litres of ethanol have been supplied to the OMCs between December 1, 2019, and June 22, 2020, achieving an average all-India blending of 5.09 per cent with petrol till then.

The blending levels achieved in some states, including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Karnataka, is much higher at 8.5-9.8 per cent with petrol.