The government has saved Rs 24,000 crore due to blending of ethanol with petrol and majority of the benefit has been passed on to sugarcane farmers, Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

He said at present the blending of ethanol stands at 12 per cent and the government plans to take it to 20 per cent as desired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Admitting that India’s oil import has increased in the last few years, Shekhawat, who was replying to questions on behalf of Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, said the country has benefited by ethanol blending.

“Oil import dependency has been increased over the past years. However, the growth of the country and energy demand go almost parallel,” he said.

Shekhawat said good thing is that Rs 24,000 crore has been saved in past few years due to ethanol blending.
“Sixty-seventy per cent of this amount goes to farmers who produce sugar cane,” he said.

Replying to another question, the minister said drilling of oil in any place be it offshore or onshore is carried out only after taking into account environmental issues.

“Commercial production is carried out only after taking into concerns of environment and others,” he said.