The government’s decision to impose an additional differential Excise Duty of ₹2 a litre on unblended fuel from October 1 will boost the Ethanol Blending Programme, according to the Indian Sugar Mills’ Association (ISMA).
According to a notification of the Department of Revenue dated February 1, fuel to be categorised as blended (with ethanol/ methanol) has to conform to BIS specifications. The actual off-take from oil manufacturing companies (OMCs) will improve to achieve the blended fuel percentage, which is currently at about 10 % and avoid the additional Excise Duty, the Association said in a press release.
In a move to support the Ethanol Blending Programme, the government has kept a provision of ₹ 160 crore in the revised estimate for 2021-2022 and another ₹.300 crore in the budget estimate for 2022-23 for extending financial assistance to sugar mills for augmentation of ethanol production capacity. This will boost setting up of more ethanol distilleries in the country.
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The ISMA said in the press statement that oil marketing companies (OMCs) have issued the fourth cycle of EOI indicating a requirement of about 95 crore litres of ethanol for procurement during ethanol season year 2021-22. This indicates that the quantity has been calculated considering 11% blending.
The revised estimated for 2021-22 financial year has also increased the budgetary allocation for the sugar industry by about ₹ 2,507 crore compared to the original budget estimate (up from about ₹ 4,337 crore to ₹ 6,844 crore), primarily to settle claims of sugar mills under schemes for assistance to sugar mills for 2019-2020 and export assistance for 2020-21 sugar season. This is a positive decision as almost all these payments are to be made to the sugarcane farmers.
The above news was originally posted on www.thehindu.com
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