Uttar Pradesh is on track to become the country’s largest producer of ethanol by the end of the current fiscal year, with nearly 100 operational distilleries across the state. Of these, 85 are currently in operation, with an additional 15 expected to come online in the coming months. The 100 distilleries are both sugarcane-based and dual-mode. Additionally, investments made into the state at the global investor summit earlier this year have prompted the government to increase the number of distilleries to 140 within the next three years.
The state government is also pushing for the establishment of fuel storage facilities in two zones, one between Gorakhpur-Basti-Azamgarh, and the other between Meerut-Moradabad, in coordination with the Ministry of Railways and Petroleum. The government aims to increase production of grain-based distilleries on account of an abundance of wheat and paddy stocks in the state.
Ethanol production in the state reached a record high of 134 crore litres in the last fiscal year, which is expected to rise to 160 crore litres this year. Uttar Pradesh is already enforcing 12 percent ethanol blending, with oil marketing companies such as HPCL blending 11.63 percent. Contracts for 520 crore litres have been executed between December 2022 and October 2023, of which around 240 crore litres have been lifted by the OMC.
