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Beyond E20: How Geopolitical Crisis and an Industry Standstill Forced India to Redraw its Ethanol Roadmap

As Brent crude spiked past $119 a barrel, India fast-tracked E22-E30 certification in weeks, reviving a Rs 50,000-crore ethanol industry that had been waiting.

By Shahkar Abidi

02 Jul 2026

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Beyond E20: How Geopolitical Crisis and an Industry Standstill Forced India to Redraw its Ethanol Roadmap

In the last week of January, at a session tucked into the expanse of 'India Energy Week' in Goa, something resembling a small parliament convened in one of the meeting auditorium halls. About five dozen people; men and women from oil marketing companies, ethanol producers, vehicle engineers, a scattering of bureaucrats, pulled their chairs into loose oval shaped sittings to ask a question that sounded almost philosophical in its simplicity: What comes after E20?

The mood was less celebratory than the occasion might have suggested. India had hit its 20% ethanol-blending target in March of 2025, nearly five years ...

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