New Delhi (India), June 6: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri launched E85 fuel at an IndianOil retail outlet in New Delhi on the occasion of World Environment Day 2026.
Senior officials of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, and CMDs of public sector OMCs were also present during the event.
The rollout commences across 48 Public Sector OMC’s retail outlets (ROs) in the country, enabling flex-fuel vehicle users to access this cleaner fuel.
The initiative is slated for nationwide expansion.The same would be scaled up to 500 ROs by December 2026 and about 5000 ROs by December 2027 and help raise India’s aggregate ethanol blending levels to nearly 26 per cent by 2030-31.
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E85 is a high-ethanol blended fuel comprising 80–85 per cent ethanol and 14–19 per cent petrol, specifically designed for use in flex-fuel vehicles.
The initiative aims to facilitate the adoption of Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs), which are capable of operating on ethanol blends from E20 to E100, without restricting consumers to a single blend.
Speaking at the event, the Minister said India has demonstrated its ability to successfully balance the “Energy Trilemma” of energy availability, affordability and sustainability, while ensuring stable fuel supplies, protecting consumers from global energy volatility to the maximum possible extent.
He noted that India has one of the lowest increases of fuel prices since February 2026.
Highlighting that ethanol blending has increased from 1.53 per cent in 2014 to 20 per cent today, with the target achieved five years ahead of schedule, he stated that this transformation has helped save over ₹1.84 lakh crore in foreign exchange and substituted nearly 302 lakh metric tonnes of crude oil imports.
This has been driven by the contribution of India’s farmers, who have evolved from being the country’s “Annadatas” to becoming its “Urjadatas” as well.
The Minister further noted that flex-fuel vehicles remain highly competitive with EVs due to their lower acquisition costs and ability to leverage existing fuel infrastructure.
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He noted that while EV technologies rely significantly on imported batteries and critical minerals, E85-powered vehicles run on domestically produced ethanol derived from the sweat and toil of Indian farmers.
Ends.
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