Dismissing claims that ethanol-blended fuel damages vehicle engines or drastically reduces mileage, Grain Ethanol Manufacturers Association (GEMA) President C K Jain has thrown down a gauntlet to critics, challenging them to prove their allegations.
He also debunked the narrative that thousands of litres of water are wasted to produce a single litre of ethanol, labelling it a false claim. In reality, he noted that manufacturing one litre of ethanol requires just five litres of water.
“Check for yourself if your vehicle or its engine has sustained any damage. If you believe it has been damaged [by ethanol-blended petrol], come to us. On the flip side, if there is no damage, you should still put out the right information. Even the authorized service centres of vehicle manufacturers have not reported any such incidents,” Jain told businessline.
Having said that, Jain conceded that there was a three-five per cent drop in mileage, but other than that there were no major issues.
“We know that majority of the vehicle owners are tax payers and losing 3-5 per cent in mileage is a concern for them, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you think of reducing pollution and save the country’s foreign exchange. So, it is a gain for them and not a loss,” he noted.
Asked whether E20 petrol is costlier to produce than conventional petrol when international crude prices are around $70 a barrel, which even the government has acknowledged, Jain said prices would continue to rise if we depend on crude imports.
“Our major import bill is crude. Do you think our future generation also keep depending on oil imports whether from West Asia or Russia? We have to think of alternatives and if they have oil wells, we have the land and farmers, so why not explore them. We should not compare what is costlier and what is not,” Jain explained.
He said India has enough ethanol manufacturing capacity, which is already set up at 1,800 crore litres, while current consumption is around 1,200 crore litres only. Therefore, the capacity was more than the requirement.
“Our aim should be maximum self reliance. So we have to try for 85 per cent of ethanol blending…100 per cent replacement (of crude oil) is not possible, but we can try for at least 25-30 per cent blending, which is possible,” he said.
Disagreeing the reports of thousands of litres of water is wasted to generate one-litre of ethanol, Jain said, “When it (feedstock) comes to the factory, the conversion rate is five litre of water to a litre of ethanol, not in 1000s, and we are proceeding towards 3.5 litre of water to a litre of ethanol. Engineers are working on that. When you say 1000s, you are adding up from the time of irrigation to rain-fed, which is not correct,” Jain argued.
He said 50 per cent of the irrigation of any crop is done through rain waters and rain water harvesting, so people should calculate through real terms.
“Don’t you calculate your water intake daily from the number of glasses that you drink? What if you start calculating your body water intake from the water used in your sugar intake, your food preparation or even a bread that you eat? You cannot calculate like that,” Jain quipped.
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), that represents more than 30,000 dealer outlets and service stations across India, it has also not come across any complaint in vehicles due to the ethanol-blended fuel.
“We as FADA have not received any complaints as yet from our members,” C S Vigneshwar, President, FADA, told businessline.
FADA is the apex body of automobile retail industry engaged in the sale, service and spares of two/three-wheelers, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and tractors, across India.
Published on July 12, 2026
