The Ministry of Commerce & Industry issued a formal denial refuting recent media claims that India is importing or intends to import large quantities of ethanol from the United States for fuel blending purposes. The Ministry categorically stated these reports are "baseless and factually incorrect" and emphasized that under India's domestic policy framework, ethanol used for the Ethanol Blended with Petrol Programme is sourced entirely from domestic producers, with no imports of ethanol for fuel blending from the U.S.
Furthermore, the Ministry clarified that no concessions or commitments relating to the import of ethanol for fuel blending from the U.S. have been made during India-U.S. trade discussions. Any suggestion of a policy change to permit large-scale imports of fuel ethanol from the U.S. was characterized as misleading. India's fuel blending program and ethanol procurement continue to be governed solely by India's domestic policy requirements without foreign import components.
The press release was issued on August 6, 2026, through the PIB Delhi channel with release ID 2295653, and was made available in multiple Indian languages including Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Assamese, Punjabi, Gujarati, Telugu, and Malayalam.