February 4, 2025
Saket Gokhale’s Zero Hour mention on the reason the government is not passing on to the consumer the price benefit obtained by mixing lower-priced ethanol to petrol
Sir, this is a very important issue that I wish to raise today because the Government recently has announced that by next year they are going to ensure 100 per cent blending of ethanol with petrol. So, they are going to get 20 per cent of ethanol into a litre of petrol. The idea behind this, the Government says, is to ensure that we meet our climate goals and we meet our emission targets. Sir, there are very simple mathematics, which has not yet been shared with the people of India that I wish to place here. The market rate of 200 ml of ethanol has been increased about five days ago. So, the new market rate is Rs.57.97 for a litre of ethanol. Twenty per cent comes to 200 ml. So, for one litre, it comes to Rs.11.5. Petrol price today is about 103 rupees. So, if I take out 20 per cent of that petrol, that will come to about 20 rupees. Now, I take away that 20 rupees worth of petrol and I substitute it with 11 rupees worth of ethanol, the price goes down by nine rupees, Sir. The question here is that you are making it mandatory to blend 20 per cent ethanol with petrol. Why is the saving from that not being passed to the average consumer? Today, people are tired of rising fuel prices. We have heard everything. India is buying cheap oil from Russia, below US $60 a barrel. Sir, since the start of Ukraine war in 2022, no relief has been given to the consumers at the fuel pumps. The prices of Petrol and Diesel are still sky high.
