Cabinet okays ethanol price hike by up to ₹1.47/l

NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday hiked the price of ethanol extracted from sugarcane for blending in petrol by up to ₹1.47 per litre for 2021-22 marketing year starting December, as part of its target to achieve 20 per cent doping by 2025.

Higher mixing of ethanol in petrol will help cut India its oil import bill and also benefit sugar cane farmers as well as sugar mills. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raised the price of ethanol extracted from sugarcane juice to ₹63.45 per litre from the current ₹62.65 per litre for the supply year beginning December 2021.

The rate for ethanol from C-heavy molasses has been increased to ₹46.66 per litre from ₹45.69 per litre currently, and that of ethanol from B-heavy to ₹59.08 per litre from ₹57.61 per litre, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said at a media briefing.

Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) buy ethanol at a price fixed by the government.

Thakur said the ethanol blending with petrol has touched 8% in the 2020-21 marketing year (December-November) and is expected to reach 10 per cent in the next year. India has plans to increase the blending to 20% by 2025.

The government on Wednesday also approved a ₹17,408.85 crore ‘committed price support’ to the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) for seven cotton seasons from 2014-15 to 2020-21.

The CCEA has approved incurring expenditure for reimbursing losses under MSP operations for cotton during the cotton season (October-September) 2014-15 to 2020-21.

The CCEA has given its approval for committed price support of Rs 17,408.85 crore to the CCI for the cotton seasons from 2014-15 to 2020-21 (up to September 30, 2021), an official release said.

In order to safeguard the interests of the cotton farmers, the government said the CCI procured cotton in large quantity during 2014-15 to 2020-21 as cotton prices touched the MSP prices.

The procurement of cotton at MSP helped stabilise the cotton prices and alleviate farmer’s distress.

I&B Minister Anurag Thakur said the CCI and authorised agencies procured 123 lakh cotton bales in 2019-20 and 100 lakh bales in 2020-21.