New Delhi (NVI): The Union Cabinet today approved mechanism for procurement of ethanol by public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) under Ethanol Blended Petrol Programme and revised ethanol price for supply to them for the year 2020-21.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved fixing higher ethanol price derived from different sugarcane-based raw materials under the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme.
The government has been implementing EBP programme wherein OMCs sell petrol blended with ethanol up to 10 per cent.
The price of ethanol for doping in petrol has been hiked by 5-8 per cent, which will help farmers get remunerative price while also cutting down oil imports, said Union Minister Prakash Javadekar while addressing a press conference after Cabinet meeting.
“The move also checks pollution as ethanol is environment-friendly,” Javadekar said.
The price of ethanol derived from C heavy molasses has been increased from Rs 43.75 a litre to Rs 445.693.75 per litre, and for B heavy molasses to Rs 57.61 per litre from Rs 54.27 earlier, as per the Cabinet statement.
Also, the price of ethanol from sugarcane juice, sugar, sugar syrup route has been increased from Rs 59.48 per litre to Rs 62.65 per litre. Additionally, GST and transportation charges will also be payable.
“Oil marketing companies (OMCs) have been advised to fix realistic transportation charges so that long distance transportation of ethanol is not disincentivised,” as per the Cabinet statement.
-CHK
