New Delhi, June 15, 2026, 16:27 IST
- India will now treat E100 as a vehicle fuel under law, after Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said he signed the rules in Nagpur. The Economic Times
- The move is aimed at certified flex-fuel vehicles. It’s not a blanket approval for all petrol or E20 models to run on ethanol.
- India is pushing the policy as part of efforts to cut its oil-import costs and boost the wider ethanol-blending programme. Press Information Bureau
India now allows vehicles to run on E100, going past the 20% ethanol blend currently in petrol. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Centre has given legal approval to 100% ethanol as vehicle fuel. “Last night at 8 PM, I signed the file making rules for 100% ethanol and giving it legal process,” Gadkari told ANI, as reported in The Economic Times. The announcement from Nagpur also came out in Tamil outlets Dinamalar and DriveSpark. The Economic Times
Regulation is the main effect right now. Automakers and fuel suppliers have a firm standard for making, certifying, and selling E100-ready flex-fuel vehicles. Flex-fuel cars run on multiple petrol-ethanol blends. Under the Central Motor Vehicles rules, makers must say if a car works with E85 or E100 and mark it with an AIS 171:2021 sticker in a visible spot.
This affects regular car owners. A petrol car on the road now, or even one built for E20, is not cleared for E100 fuel unless the manufacturer says so. Engines need to be calibrated for high-ethanol blends, and the fuel system has to be different. Autocar India said E100 will also need new fuel infrastructure, plus cars typically use more of these higher ethanol blends than petrol to go the same distance. Autocar
India is pushing to cut its crude-oil use, the latest in a set of measures the government sees as key to reducing oil imports. The petroleum ministry said ethanol blending is now at 20%, up from 1.5% in 2014, but the country still brings in about 88.5% of its crude. The ministry said flex-fuel cars could help farmers by boosting demand for ethanol crops and might help shield the country from swings in global oil prices. Press Information Bureau
Commercial rollout is the next hurdle. Gadkari flagged Maruti Suzuki’s flex-fuel WagonR and Hero MotoCorp’s ethanol-ready bikes. Toyota, Suzuki, Hyundai, and MG are all set to launch E100-ready vehicles in the next few months. Still, with mass availability of these vehicles and enough fuel pumps some way off, the approval amounts to a policy nudge, not something most drivers will see at filling stations yet. Autocar
