India Planning Commission may not put cap on use of ethanol

A committee working under the Planning Commission in India that is taxed with coming up with a pricing model for ethanol is leaning towards not capping the use of ethanol either for the ethanol blending program (EBP) or other uses. Early in the discussions, the committee had proposed to place a cap on the use of ethanol at 400–500 million liters for the government’s ethanol blending program. This program is aimed at blending ethanol in a 5% solution with gasoline. The committee has supposedly decided that earmarking a certain percentage for the blending program would cause problems for the local chemical industry. The committee will finalize its report on ethanol pricing in March. The report is expected to be restricted to ethanol pricing and its formula. (March 10, 2011)