India's ethanol supply touches 895 crore litres; grain feedstocks lead at 70%

India's ethanol supplies touched 895 crore litres by the end of August under Ethanol Supply Year (ESY) 2025-26, meeting roughly 85 per cent of the 1,048 crore litres contracted, data compiled by the All India Distillers' Association (AIDA) shows.

Grain-based feedstocks have emerged as the dominant source, accounting for 624 crore litres, or close to 70 per cent of cumulative supplies. Within this category, maize was the single largest contributor at 345 crore litres, followed by surplus Food Corporation of India (FCI) rice at 214 crore litres and damaged food grains at 64 crore litres.

Sugar-based feedstocks supplied the remaining 271 crore litres. Sugarcane juice accounted for 149 crore litres, B Heavy Molasses for 107 crore litres and C Heavy Molasses for 15 crore litres.

Bharati Balaji, Deputy Director General of AIDA, said the August-end figures reflect how substantially the country's ethanol supply ecosystem has evolved, with grain-based pathways now providing the bulk of supplies while sugar-based feedstocks retain a substantial share. She described this diversity as an important strength of the ethanol programme, allowing the industry to draw on multiple domestic agricultural resources and reducing dependence on any single feedstock pathway.

The industry body flagged the next challenge: as domestic ethanol capacity and supply continue to expand, production growth will need to be matched by adequate and predictable avenues for utilisation. This is expected to gain importance as India moves beyond the existing ethanol-blending framework towards wider use in Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), Compressed Biogas (CBG), Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and other applications.