E20 Already Cost You Mileage And Your Insurance Cover, So Why Is The Government Rushing Straight To E100?

Barely had the dust settled on India becoming a fully E20 nation than Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari dropped the next bombshell. Speaking at the Sugar, Ethanol & Bio-Energy India Conference in Nagpur on June 13, he announced that he had signed the file finalising regulations to legally authorise the use of 100% ethanol (E100) as a fuel, amending the Central Motor Vehicles Rules to also open the door for E85, B100 biodiesel and hydrogen-CNG vehicles . He reminded everyone that people had once laughed at the idea that cars could run on pure ethanol. Days earlier, he and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had already unveiled a flex-fuel version of the Maruti Suzuki WagonR , while Hero MotoCorp has launched two flex-fuel motorcycles capable of running on 100% ethanol, with Toyota, Suzuki, Hyundai and MG expected to follow within a month and a half. The government's roadmap envisions around 500 flex-fuel-ready outlets across Delhi-NCR and the Mumbai-Pune-Nagpur corridor by December 2026, scaling to roughly 5,000 outlets nationwide by the end of 2027.

To be fair, E100 isn't being forced on anyone the way E20 was, it's strictly for vehicles built for it. But that's exactly the problem. This leap to E85 and E100 is happening while three loud, unresolved complaints about the existing ethanol push remain completely unanswered.

Start with the money. Gadkari's original pitch, going back to 2018, was that ethanol from farm waste would eventually bring petrol down to around ₹55 a litre . Instead, petrol in Mumbai today costs ₹111.18 a litre , with crude oil trading at around $82.95 a barrel . The government does tout big numbers on the import side. Hardeep Singh Puri claimed ethanol blending has replaced 30.2 million metric tonnes of crude oil imports , saving roughly ₹1.84 lakh crore in foreign exchange , while a KPMG report pegged the figure at nearly ₹1.67 lakh crore in forex savings , a cut of around 283 lakh metric tonnes in crude imports , and 851 lakh tonnes of avoided CO2 emissions . All impressive on paper. None of it has shown up at the pump for the ordinary driver. And unlike Brazil or the United States , where consumers can choose between blends, India effectively scrapped that choice. The only real alternative now is IndianOil's XP100 , priced at nearly ₹160 a litre , putting it well out of reach for daily commuters.

Then there's what E20 is actually doing to people's vehicles. India hit its 20% ethanol blending target nationwide by April 2026, five years ahead of the original 2030 deadline, and E20 is now the only petrol available at the pump. The government's own line is that mileage drops by 1% to 2% in newer, E20-calibrated cars and up to 6% in older vehicles , while industry body SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) has admitted to a 2% to 4% mileage hit , mostly in older vehicles, though it insists this isn't a safety risk. But survey data tells a more frustrated story. A LocalCircles poll of 36,000 vehicle owners found 66% opposed the nationwide rollout , with 44% wanting it withdrawn and 22% demanding more fuel choices. A separate survey found one in two older-vehicle owners want the option to go back to E10 or plain E0 petrol . The insurance question has now turned even murkier. ICICI Lombard , India's largest private general insurer, warned that using E20 in a pre-2023, non-compatible car could be treated as "improper use" or "negligence," potentially opening the door to claim rejections, even though the government maintains E20 doesn't void insurance or warranties.

And then there's the environmental argument, which is supposed to be ethanol's trump card. Yes, blended fuel cuts tailpipe emissions . But producing that fuel is staggeringly thirsty. NITI Aayog has estimated that a litre of sugarcane-based ethanol consumes at least 2,860 litres of water , while a more recent investigation found that rice-based ethanol can have a water footprint exceeding 10,000 litres per litre of fuel , with maize at around 4,670 litres and sugarcane near 3,630 litres . Those figures have been challenged by the sugar industry, with an ICAR-backed study claiming sugarcane-based ethanol needs closer to 2,000 litres per litre , making it more efficient than competing crops. Whichever number you believe, it's nowhere close to the handful of litres needed to refine a litre of petrol. So India may be trading a carbon problem for a water problem , particularly in states like Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh , which are already facing groundwater stress.

Which brings us to the question that won't go away. Nikhil Gadkari , son of Nitin Gadkari , is managing director of CIAN Agro Industries & Infrastructure Ltd , a company that pivoted aggressively into ethanol as the E20 push accelerated. Its revenue reportedly jumped from around ₹17 crore to ₹510 crore within a year , while its stock price surged from about ₹40 to over ₹3,000 in just sixteen months, briefly pushing its market capitalisation past ₹9,000 crore . His brother Sarang Gadkari is a director at Manas Agro Industries , another company operating in the ethanol sector. Congress leade r Pawan Khera demanded a Lokpal probe , summing up the criticism in one line: "The father drafts the policy, the sons cash in on it." Gadkari has strongly rejected the allegations, arguing that less than 0.5% of India's total ethanol supply comes from his sons' companies and insisting that his earnings are entirely legitimate. At one point, he declared, "My brain is worth 200 crore per month."

So here's where that leaves us. Fuel prices haven't fallen. Older vehicles are reporting lower mileage and facing uncertainty over insurance claims. The water footprint of ethanol production remains fiercely debated. Yet none of this appears to have slowed the government's momentum. If anything, it is accelerating toward E85, E100, B100 biodiesel and hydrogen-CNG vehicles , all approved through a single regulatory push.

Is this confidence rooted in a policy that is genuinely helping India's farmers, energy security and import bill ? Or is it confidence driven by the fact that some businesses are benefiting enormously from the very wave the government continues to push forward?