Top trends to profit from in 2022: Ethanol

This renewable fuel, made from sugar, sugarcane, molasses, maize and damaged food grains, has been under the government's consideration for over 15 years. With the launch of the Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) programme back in 2003, the government wanted to reduce its dependence on crude oil and lower carbon emissions. The programme aimed at a blending target of 5 per cent, which means mixing 5 per cent ethanol with 95 per cent petrol. Although the government's focus has remained on electric vehicles (EVs), it will take some more years to replace the internal combustion engine (ICE) with EVs. Hence, the government has planned to ramp up ethanol production. Later, with the launch of the National Policy on Biofuels, the government increased the blending target to 10 per cent now and 20 per cent by 2025. At present, the blending rate in India is pegged at 8.5 per cent, wherein 332 crore litres of ethanol is blended and this is set to increase to 1,016 crore litre by 2025-26. In line with the growing demand for ethanol, the government has been offering various incentives for hi