Your car's petrol tank might now be running on rice that was once meant for ration shops.
No, that's not a typo.
India just used a record 4.4 million tonnes of government rice to make ethanol — and the reason behind it is a policy twist most people missed.
The Food Corporation of India (FCI) sits on mountains of surplus rice.
Till June 30 this year, it shipped 4.4 million tonnes of that surplus to ethanol distilleries.
Last year, same period: just 3.2 million tonnes.
Four months of the supply year are still left.
So why the sudden jump?
Distilleries that want to sell ethanol to oil companies now face a new condition:
👉 At least 40% of their grain-based ethanol must come from FCI rice.
It started for the first three quarters of this supply year.
On July 3, a circular stretched it to the fourth quarter too.
Translation: rice isn't optional anymore. It's mandatory.
Distillers actually prefer maize — it's more profitable.
But the mandate forced a mix shift:
Rice basically elbowed its way back to the top of the feedstock pile.
This wasn't always the plan.
In 2023, the Centre stopped FCI rice sales for ethanol entirely.
El Niño had hit rice production. Food security fears took over.
Rice for ethanol fell to zero.
Now, three years later, it's back at record highs — and the government insists food security is untouched, backed by rice procurement climbing to 56.2 million tonnes this season.
Ethanol blending in petrol has quietly climbed from 10% in 2021-22 to 20% today.
Sugarcane alone could never get India there — it's seasonal, regional, and capped near 7-8% blending.
Grain now powers 67% of India's ethanol, and rice — cheaper at ₹60.32 a litre versus maize's ₹71.86 — is fast becoming the backbone of that shift.
One mandate. One circular.
And India's fuel tanks started tasting a little more like dinner.
That's all for now!
