Govt appoints inter-ministry panel to monitor OMCs’ ethanol buy

26 Dec 2013 Evaluate

In a solution to the mandated ethanol-buy problem, the government has appointed a monitoring committee, comprising officials from finance, agriculture and food ministries, for ensuring smooth transaction of ethanol from sugar mills to oil companies.

Although, under the ethanol blending programme (EBP), oil marketing companies (OMCs) were mandated to sell 5% ethanol-blended petrol from June 2013, however the first ethanol purchase tender, facing hurdles, has yet not been executed because the supplier sugar industry and buyer state oil companies are hurling charges at each other for deferring from purchase agreements.

OMCs have blamed sugar mills for not supplying adequate quantity of ethanol even after they agreed to pay mills about 30% more than the Rs 34 per litre they had offered three years ago. Meanwhile, sugar industry, which denies the allegation, has instead put the onus of their cash-strapped status on the oil industry. Further, as per the sugar industry, frequent delays in finalization of tender and delays in lifting are not only impeding cash flow when cane arrears are high, but also increasing the cost of ethanol for the suppliers. The industry has claimed cash flow of around Rs 1,000 crore being stuck because the oil companies not lifting the ethanol orders that they had placed. This purchase delay has led to sugar millers diverting the surplus and carry forward stock of molasses to export market.

Ironically, in wake of all these problems, the government has recently announced that it would look into raising the cap on blended ethanol in petrol from 5% to 10%.  Until, now the quantity of ethanol secured by oil firms up to last month and expected supply in remaining four months of the current financial year, would hardly be enough achieve 1% ethanol blending in 2013-14.

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