Government to reduce oil imports Increased to 1.84

(PTI) New Delhi, Ta. September 3, 2019, Tuesday

The government on Tuesday announced a hike in ethanol prices used by public sector oil companies to fuel the fuel. Newly announced prices will be implemented from December 1, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said today. It has been decided to increase ethanol prices to reduce crude oil imports by one billion dollars annually.

The Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had decided to raise ethanol prices. Ethanol prices from C-Heavy Molasses have been increased by 29 paise to Rs 43.75. However, the price of ethanol from 'B-Heavy Molasses' has been increased by Rs 1.84 to Rs 54.27.

In addition, the price of ethanol made from sugarcane juice has been increased from Rs 59.13 to Rs 59.48.

While the price of C-heavy molluscs has been reduced from Rs 43.70 to Rs 43.46.

Currently, 6% ethanol is mixed in petrol which will be increased to 7% from next year. While in 2021-22, petrol will be mixed with 10 percent ethanol.

Directly from sugarcane juice in September last year, ethanol prices were increased by 25 per cent to Rs 59.13. According to the government, the new ethanol prices will go into effect from December 1, 2019 to November 30, 2020.

In addition, at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, today, a decision has been taken to allow oil marketing companies to set a systematic arrangement for fixing ethanol prices for sale in petrol.

At present, petrol sold at petrol pumps in India accounts for six percent of ethanol. In India, for the first time in 2002, ethanol mixing was started in petrol. However, during the ten-year rule of the UPA, ethanol mixing in petrol was reduced.

However, when the BJP government came to power again in 2014, it had started to increase ethanol in petrol again. It is worth mentioning that India spent $ 112 billion on import of 22.6 million tonnes of crude oil in 2018-19.