New Delhi, June 27 : The Food Ministry has hiked the allocation of rice for increasing ethanol production to 5.2 million tonnes, due to excess stocks with the FCI, to help meet the country's petrol blending target and reduce dependence on oil imports.

The move will reduce the need to divert sugarcane for producing alcohol, which, in turn, will ensure higher levels of sugar production to keep prices of the sweetener under control.

Currently, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has around 60 million tonnes of rice and paddy in its stocks, which is in far excess of the buffer requirement of 13.5 million tonnes. Excess stocks also lead to storage problems and make it difficult for the FCI to procure the crops for the next season due to the space crunch, a senior official said.

Grain-based ethanol manufacturers were largely using maize as input, and this led to a spike in maize prices, which had adversely impacted the poultry farmers, as the grain is used as a feedstock for hens. An increase in the allocation of rice for ethanol production will also help to keep maize prices in check, according to industry sources.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri said recently that E20 ethanol-blended petrol is now being made available to fuel vehicles at all the retail outlets of the public sector companies - Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum - nationwide.

The minister stated that India has achieved the target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol in early 2025, which is six years ahead of the original deadline of 2030, and reflects the strong progress in the country's journey towards cleaner fuels.

'This achievement not only reduces the country's carbon emissions but also saves huge amounts of money. In the process, we have saved Rs 1 lakh crore upwards. Rs 1.5 lakh crore of foreign exchange because of the import bill, and we have given that to our farmers,' the minister said.

/IANS