Abstract

The case study, “E20: India’s Blended Fuel Program Faces Roadblocks,” examines the implementation of India’s Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) program, which successfully met its goal of blending 20 percent ethanol with 80 percent petrol (E20) in the Ethanol Supply Year 2025-26. The Government of India considers this program essential to ensure the security of the country's energy supply, reduce crude oil imports, save foreign exchange, lower emissions, and improve agricultural income generation. By mid-2026, however, the E20 program began facing complaints about engine issues from automobile manufacturers and vehicle owners. The major OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) such as Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, and Mahindra expressed doubts over the quality of the fuel at the retail level due to moisture and chloride contamination, which results in corrosion of engine parts. Simultaneously, consumers expressed concern about reduced fuel efficiency (by 2–6%) and potential damage to older, non-E20-compatible cars and to low-ethanol-blend-compatible cars. Some of them filed lawsuits. This case highlights the policy, stakeholders’ trust issues, and the management dilemma faced by MoPNG, which sought to balance public expectations with implementation of quality standards for retail fuel, and coordination of OEM investments without interfering with the agricultural value chain and the excess capacity of over 7,000 million liters of ethanol distillation capacity.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Explain the key stakeholders involved in a policy decision and their role and influence.
• Illustrate how communication acts as a policy tool
• Formulate a strategy for the successful implementation of a policy decision

Keywords

Ethanol Blending; E20; Automobile Industry; Public policy; Stakeholder Theory; Sustainability; Vehicle Compatibility,Petrol Blending; Foreign exchange savings; Fuel efficiency