The government issued an notification on Tuesday exempting 12-15 per cent ethanol blended petrol from excise duty to boost its production.
As per the government order, no excise duty is leviable on 12 per cent ethanol blended petrol that is a blend. The ethanol blended petrol consists, by volume, of 88 per cent motor spirit (commonly known as petrol), on which the appropriate duties of excise have been paid and of 12 per cent ethanol, on which the appropriate central tax, state tax, union territory tax, or integrated tax have been paid. It is conforming to the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 17586.
The excise duty is not payable on 15 per cent ethanol blended petrol that is a blend consisting, by volume, of 85 per cent motor spirit, on which the appropriate duties of excise have been paid and of 15 per cent ethanol, on which the appropriate central tax, state tax, union territory tax, or integrated tax, as the case may be, has been paid. It is conforming to the Bureau of Indian Standards specification IS 17586.
India has set a target to achieve 20 per cent ethanol blending and therefore taking various steps in the same direction.
Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated that India has achieved a 10 per cent ethanol blending target five months ahead of schedule.
According to Hardeep Singh Puri, Union minister for petroleum and natural gas, ahead of the April 2023 target, 20 per cent ethanol blended petrol may be available at selected petrol pumps in the country.
The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) has been launched to lower import dependency on fuel and save foreign exchange apart from increasing the income of farmers.
