The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raised price ethanol price extracted from sugarcane juice by Rs 1.47 to Rs 63.45 per litre from the current Rs 62.65 per litre. The new prices of ethanol will come into effect from December 1 for the supply year 2021-22, the minister said.
The move will help the government in keeping a check on the stability of prices for the ethanol suppliers. In addition, it will also help in reducing the pending arrears of cane farmers. This will also reduce the dependency on crude oil imports. This in turn will result in the saving of foreign exchange and also bring benefits to the environment, the government said in a statement.
The Information and Broadcasting Minister, Anurag Thakur, said the ethanol blending with petrol has touched 8 per cent in the 2020-21 marketing year (December-November) and is expected to reach 10 per cent in the next year.
The rate for ethanol from C-heavy molasses has been increased to Rs 46.66 per litre from Rs 45.69 per litre currently, and that of ethanol from B-heavy to Rs 59.08 per litre from Rs 57.61 per litre, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said at a media briefing.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the mechanism for procurement of ethanol by Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies under the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) buy ethanol at a price fixed by the government.
This came as a part of India’s target to achieve 20 per cent doping at oil prices by 2025. Higher mixing of ethanol in petrol will help cut India its oil import bill and also benefit sugar cane farmers as well as sugar mills.
Further, the union cabinet has approved incurring expenditure for reimbursing the losses under MSP operations for cotton during the cotton season (October to September) 2014-15 to 2020-21.
(Source – PTI News)
