Nitin Gadkari to discuss with oil companies to make ethanol rates reasonable

Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for roadways, Thursday said he would hold a meeting with oil marketing companies after the Delhi elections, where they will discuss ways and means to make retail ethanol prices reasonable.

Speaking at the 4th Edition of Sugar-Ethanol and Bio Energy India Conference (SEIC) 2025, organised by ChiniMandi, the Union Minister cited the example of Indian Oil, which had decided to open 400 ethanol pumps.

Gadkari said that the OMC had priced per litre ethanol at Rs 110 in the retail market, higher than the market price of petrol.

The pricing was kept that way, apparently to disincentivise the green alternative fuel sales.

“After the Delhi assembly polls, possibly on February 6 or 7, we will hold a meeting. Petroleum minister (Hardeep Puri) has told me that the rate of ethanol at which the government procures and the selling price will be rationalized at a reasonable level (so that they are not retailed at elevated prices),” Gadkari said, speaking in Hindi.

Gadkari further said there is a huge potential for setting up a large number of ethanol pumps similar to that of the pumps that sell blended fuel provided ethanol prices are substantially lower than gasoline prices.

He also suggested that if sugar factories could open ethanol pumps in their respective places, it would add a new avenue for income.

Further, the Union minister also suggested that lignin (a residue when rice straw biomass is converted into bio CNG) can be used in bitumen along with rubber powder.

An experiment has been done in a small stretch of the Nagpur-Jabalpur highway, he said, stressing that this breakthrough could help farmers become contributors in the bitumen space.

India has a huge shortage of bitumen, used in road making.

“Our requirement is 90 lakh tonne, and our refinery capacity is 45-50 lakh tonne. We are running 50 per cent in short supply (in bitumen). I have called all oil companies on February 6, and I will suggest they procure lignin just like they procure ethanol,” the minister said at the event today.

Gadkari suggests that lignin be procured at Rs 35 per kg, giving economic viability to farmers. In the same breath, he also suggested CNG producers to foray into the hydrogen manufacturing space.