Lucknow :
Uttar Pradesh is here to ‘drive’ the country, quite literally. India’s most populous state has pipped Maharashtra to become India’s largest producer of ethanol for blending with petrol.
According to a recent data of Union petroleum ministry, in 2015, UP produced 56 crore litres of ethanol against Maharashtra’s 52 crores litres. The two states together accounted for nearly 67% of country’s total ethanol production of around 161 crore litres a year. They are followed by Karanataka (25 cr litres), Andhra (8.5 cr litre), Gujarat (8 cr litres) and Tamil Nadu (7.6 cr litres).
The surge in ethanol production in the state was driven largely by UP’s sugar industry. Data shows distilleries in sugar mills, like the one in Saharanpur and Basti, contributed maximum by producing around 4 crore litres each. Likewise, the Muzaffarnagar sugar mill and Mawana sugar mill produced 3.6 crore litre and 2.8 crore litres, respectively.
UP has 61 distilleries, out of which 36 are attached to sugar mills. Not surprisingly, all 36 mills chipped in for ethanol production.
Of the total 56 crore litres of ethanol production, UP is expected to use 30 crore litre for its own consumption, leaving rest to be exported to Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. Industry sources said an increase in ethanol production was largely a fallout of a sharp plunge in prices of raw sugar last year.
Industry sources said millers gradually started diverting cane juice for production of the ‘clean fuel’ that fetched them relatively higher profit. Petroleum companies, which lift ethanol from distilleries, paid them at the rate of Rs 48.5 per litre . This was sufficiently higher than prices of sugar which kept falling following a glut.
This got another boost earlier this year when Centre decided to waive off excise duty on ethanol for the financial year 2015-16. An excise duty of 14% is charged on per litre of ethanol.
The industry, however, has been complaining of procedural difficulties and delays in obtaining permits/no-objection certificate from the excise department. “This delays the movement of ethanol, which in turn results in depriving the state exchequer of its legitimate revenue,” said a miller.
When contacted, UP cane commissioner Ajay Kumar Singh said there has been a demand for more administrative convenience by the industry. “The state government is looking into it,” he said, while speaking to TOI. Singh said the ethanol was certainly a big sector that needs to be looked into.
Centre in August had decided to boost ethanol production by making 10% blending with petrol mandatory in its efforts to resolve the sugar imbroglio. UP government too is reported to have been mulling to adopt a concept wherein part of cane juice may be diverted for production of ethanol.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Lucknow / by Pankaj Shah, TNN / January 06th, 2016