A year
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Same price at the pump. About 6–7% less energy in the tank.
Tap a vehicle, or drag to your own figure.
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| Nation | Oil imports avoideddollars not spent on crude | — |
| Ethanol billpaid by oil companies to ethanol makers | — | |
| — | — | |
| Govt's stated savinggross — the ethanol bill is not deducted | — | |
| Drivers | Energy the ethanol does not carryat import parity — the mileage you lose | — |
| Centre | Petrol tax not collectedon the ethanol share — pump price unchanged | — |
| GST on ethanolCentre's half of the 5% GST | — | |
| Capacity support₹4,573 cr subvention over 5 years | — |
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Petrol blended with 20% ethanol by volume. India reached that level nationally in 2025 under the Ethanol Blended Petrol programme, having started from about 12% in 2023. Ethanol is made mostly from sugarcane molasses and surplus grain, so blending replaces imported crude with a domestic crop. Every petrol pump in the country now sells it; there is no unblended option at ordinary outlets.
Yes, and the reason is physics rather than opinion. A litre of ethanol carries roughly a third less energy than a litre of petrol, so a litre of E20 carries about 6–7% less energy than unblended petrol did. Less energy in the tank means fewer kilometres from it.
How much you actually lose depends on the vehicle. NITI Aayog's own projections put purpose-built E20 engines at 1–2%, two-wheelers at 3–4%, and four-wheelers designed before the switch at 6–7%. Owners of older vehicles frequently report more. The government's position is that the drop is modest and that there is no evidence of engine damage.
It scales with what you spend on fuel. On ₹3,000 of petrol a month at a 6% loss, roughly ₹180 a month or ₹2,160 a year — about 21 litres you pay for and never travel on. On ₹5,000 a month at 6.5%, closer to ₹3,900 a year. Over a fifteen-year ownership that reaches tens of thousands of rupees. The calculator above works it out for your own spend.
No. The pump price is unchanged. This is the part most people miss: the Centre waives excise duty on the ethanol share of every litre, but that saving is not passed to the driver. It offsets the cost of buying ethanol, which is currently dearer than the petrol it replaces. So drivers pay the same price for slightly less energy.
ARAI found no metal corrosion or engine damage. What it did find is that rubber and plastic fuel-system parts — hoses, O-rings, seals, gaskets — deteriorate faster in vehicles built for E10, and may need replacing every 20,000–30,000 km. These are inexpensive parts changed at routine service. Vehicles sold as E20-compliant from April 2023 are unaffected.
Older ones. Pre-2016 vehicles, carburetted two-wheelers and cars calibrated for E10 see both the largest mileage drop and the fuel-system wear. Newer E20-compliant vehicles are engineered for the blend and lose very little. A car bought in 2015 and one bought in 2024 are having quite different experiences of the same fuel.
Energy security and farm income, not cheaper fuel — the government has been explicit about that. India imports around 85% of its crude, so every litre of ethanol is a litre not bought abroad. The programme has also paid a great deal to sugarcane farmers and distilleries. The trade-off is that ethanol currently costs more per litre than the petrol it displaces, so the saving on imports is not free.
Not at an ordinary pump. Blending is nationwide and there is no separate unblended grade for normal vehicles. Some premium fuels have different specifications, and the practical response for an older vehicle is routine maintenance — replacing perishable fuel-system parts at service intervals rather than waiting for them to fail.