Gadkari defends ethanol blending and agriculture diversification

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has defended India’s policy of blending ethanol with petrol, rejecting claims that the practice damages vehicles and describing it as a way to diversify agriculture. Speaking at the Bihar Investor Summit 2026 in Patna on Thursday, Gadkari said four crore four-wheelers and 20 crore two-wheelers had been running on petrol mixed with ethanol since 2022. He challenged critics to produce complaints that vehicles had been damaged by the fuel blend.

Gadkari said the policy was intended to expand agriculture into the energy and power sectors. He described farmers not only as food producers but also as energy producers, arguing that the use of crops such as corn for ethanol could provide additional income. The minister claimed that the decision to produce ethanol from corn had generated additional earnings of up to ₹45,000 crore for farmers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

He also said leading automobile manufacturers had tested vehicles running on 100% ethanol without receiving complaints, though the source material provides no technical details about those tests. Gadkari said India was importing conventional fuel worth ₹22 lakh crore and argued that innovation could reduce dependence on such imports. He also cited the production of aviation fuel from rice straw as an example of the role of research and technology.

He said Bihar had significant potential in tourism and in products such as makhana, or Indian fox nuts. Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary urged investors to build in the state, promising access to a large market for products that meet the required standard.