New Delhi: The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) has raised concerns over the inability of oil marketing companies (OMCs) to procure ethanol in certain states and has said that it is hoping for a solution at the earliest since 325 crore litres of ethanol have already been allocated by sugar mills for the government's ethanol blending programme. In an official statement released on Thursday, the ISMA said, "Sugar mills are facing difficulties in lifting of ethanol by OMCs, even though they have allocated about 325 cr ltrs of ethanol supplies in 2020-21. It seems that OMCs and their depots are not fully geared up, especially in newer depots and states, to take more quantity of ethanol."
"However, we expect an early solution to the problem by the OMCs, as done by them in the past when they had taken prompt action to negate any effect on supplies last year during lockdown," the ISMA added.
The three state-run OMCs — Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) — had floated a tender in November 2020 for the procurement of 195 crore litres of ethanol for blending. The tender was the first one floated by the oil PSUs after the government had allowed production of ethanol from maize. And it received an overwhelming response from ethanol producers as bids were received for 320 crore litres of ethanol.
Under the ethanol blending programme, the government is looking to raise the percentage of ethanol blending from around 8 percent currently to 20 percent by 2024-25. The programme has progressed far slower than expected due to the non-availability of ethanol in the country. However, with the government expanding the list of sources for ethanol production, the availability of the product has improved considerably.
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