Hello,
The government has been quietly picking your pocket, with every extra blend of ethanol that goes into your fuel tank. Here’s why we say that.
Union government called it a triumph when India hit 20 percent ethanol blending in petrol last year. It was five years ahead of schedule. But when motorists complained their fuel bills were climbing and their vehicles were breaking down, two Union ministers dismissed it.
Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri called the complaints bullshit. Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, the ethanol programme’s biggest champion, blamed mileage loss on Delhi-Mumbai traffic.
We decided to fact check the ministers, using their own government’s data.
What we found was stark. Over three years, Indian vehicle owners paid an estimated Rs 88,234 crore extra to cover distances they could have driven on unblended petrol. Rs 88,234 more, out of their pocket! In 2025-26 alone, the country burned through 2.83 million metric tonnes of extra petrol.
It comes down to simple chemistry. Ethanol delivers 33 percent less energy per litre than petrol. Blend in 20 percent, and your fuel carries 6.7 percent less punch, so you burn more of it.
NITI Aayog’s own 2021 roadmap flagged this mileage penalty for existing cars. An automobile expert who worked on the blending programme confirmed it too. The government pushed ahead anyway.
And you cannot simply opt out. Pure petrol, where available, costs over 65 percent more than the blended stuff.
Blending does cut India’s crude import bill, sure. But that saving is being quietly funded by every motorist, at every pump, a cost this government has never acknowledged, let alone quantified.
Read the full story here: In 3 years, Indian motorists paid Rs 88,234 crore extra to fuel Modi Govt’s Great Ethanol Experiment
Fact-checking the government takes slow, careful work, and we are a small team doing it full time. Help us keep at it with your support.
Warm Regards,
Ayushi Kar
Reporter
The Reporters' Collective