The more times you drive your car to Rameshwaram Cafe for idli–sambar or Bisi Bale Bhaath, the more expensive it may get!
Here’s why
Every extra km you drive means more petrol consumption. India is blending 20% ethanol with petrol today to reduce crude imports. Sounds great, right? Ethanol blending is meant to save foreign exchange.
But… ethanol in India comes largely from sugarcane and increasingly maize. And when maize goes into ethanol, it competes with pulses acreage in states like Bihar, Maharashtra, MP, UP, Karnataka, and Rajasthan—states that otherwise could have grown more dal.
What happens then?
- India’s crude & petroleum import bill fell from $209 bn in 2022–23 to $178 bn in 2023–24—a big win.
- But in 2024–25, it rose again to $185.8 bn, partly perhaps due to the lower energy content of ethanol compared to petrol (you need more fuel for the same drive).We explored this paradox in more detail here:
Racing to E27 without a pit stop could stall India’s ethanol gains - Meanwhile, our pulse imports surged to $5.5 bn in 2024–25—the highest ever, keeping India the world’s largest pulse importer.
So ironically, the ethanol that powers your car may also be making your idli–sambar more expensive, because less land is going into growing tur, urad, or moong.
Area under cultivation of pulses fell from 307 lakh hectares in 2021-22 to 276 lakh hectares in 2024-25. In contrast, the government plans to expand the maize cultivation area from 120 lakh hectares in 2024–25 to 140 lakh hectares by 2026 to meet increasing demand from poultry and ethanol manufacturers, as per Livemint reports. (As per Apeda, area under maize cultivation was 99 lakh hectares. So, 40% rise in area planned in two years)
According to an ICAR–Indian Institute of Maize Research (IIMR) study, maize production must grow at 8-9% annually to achieve 65–70 million tonnes by 2030, supporting India’s ethanol blending target of E30.
Source: RBI
Takeaway: India needs to balance energy security with nutritional security—or else the aam aadmi’s plate could become collateral damage in the ethanol race.
#Ethanol #FoodSecurity #EnergySecurity #Agriculture #Sustainability #Wisdomsmith