State inspection finds excessive ethanol blending in petrol, raising concerns over vehicle mileage and maintenance costs | Photo Credit: ozgurcankaya
E20 refers to petrol blended with 20 per cent anhydrous ethanol under the Indian government’s Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme. The initiative was proposed as a way of reducing dependence on crude oil imports, saving foreign exchange, strengthening energy security and lowering vehicular emissions.
Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Rizwan Arshad shared the findings at a press conference on Friday, adding that the inspections were conducted by the Department of Legal Metrology under the State government’s Mission Nikhara – Measurement Guarantee initiative.
Addressing the media, Arshad said the investigation was prompted by motorists reporting lower mileage and higher expenses. He also raised concerns over whether petrol pumps were dispensing the correct quantity of fuel and sought details on the proportion of dispensing units violating permissible limits.
63 samples were collected from Bengaluru, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Mangaluru and Tumakuru. According to a government-issued press note issued, the samples were initially sent to laboratories operated by oil companies, including IOCL and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL). These companies, it claimed, did not disclose the ethanol percentage in their reports, despite ethanol testing being mandatory.
The State sent the samples to labs accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) and certified under ISO standards. Copies of six lab test reports from Shriram Research Institute, Bengaluru, showed ethanol blend beyond the permissible 20%.
Another HPCL sample recorded 27 per cent ethanol, while BPCL’s MS Speed petrol contained 26.5 per cent. Nayara’s petrol recorded 26.1 per cent, while Shell’s sample showed 25.5 per cent. Other samples from BPCL recorded 24.2 per cent and 22.6 per cent, while HPCL recorded 22.4 per cent. IOCL and Nayara samples also recorded 20.8 per cent and 20.6 per cent, respectively. Three samples were below the benchmark — BPCL at 19.9 per cent, MRPL at 19.2 per cent and Shell at 13.5 per cent.
The Karnataka government flagged the potential financial burden of higher ethanol blending on vehicle owners through reduced mileage and increased maintenance costs. The note said that a 10 per cent reduction in mileage could impose an annual burden of ₹62,000 crore on consumers, assuming India’s annual fuel consumption of 6,200 crore litres and a petrol price of ₹100 per litre.
It estimated additional vehicle repair expenses at ₹39,000 crore annually, taking the combined potential burden to ₹1.01 lakh crore. The document cites possible damage to fuel filters, pumps, injectors, pipes, hoses and rubber seals from higher ethanol concentrations.
In FY26, IOCL, BPCL and HPCL reported combined profits of ₹77,821 crore. The note also claimed that servicing and spare-parts sales account for approximately 50 per cent of automobile companies’ profits. It highlighted that approximately 99 per cent of India’s 35 crore vehicles are not designed to accommodate ethanol blends exceeding E20. Vehicles introduced after April 2023 have been certified for a maximum ethanol blend of 20 per cent. It also claimed that lower-ethanol petrol has been withdrawn from approximately one lakh petrol stations nationwide, leaving consumers without an alternative.
Arshad raised concerns over fuel dispensing infrastructure, stating that most dispensing units currently used at petrol pumps are designed to handle ethanol blends of only up to 15 per cent.
Among its demands, the Karnataka government has sought public disclosure of the actual ethanol content in petrol supplied to consumers by the Union Ministries of Road Transport and Highways and Petroleum and Natural Gas. It also called for legal action against oil marketing companies supplying petrol with ethanol content exceeding the stipulated 20 per cent limit.
The State has sought transparent records of ethanol blending in every batch of fuel supplied to Karnataka, along with petrol pump-level audit reports. It has also proposed setting up a compensation fund for vehicle owners whose vehicles have been damaged, allowing consumers to submit assessments from authorised service centres and seek compensation through a time-bound claims process.
Further, it has demanded mandatory display of ethanol content at petrol pumps to allow consumers to choose fuel suited to their vehicles.
OMCs’ response
IOCL, BPCL, and HPCL, the three public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), responded that the claims are not supported by testing conducted in accordance with the prescribed statutory and technical procedures.
“E20 petrol supplied by the three OMCs across the country, including Karnataka, conforms to IS 17021, the Bureau of Indian Standards specification for ethanol-blended motor gasoline. The claims of an estimated annual consumer mileage loss and vehicle-repair costs, aggregating to around ₹1.01 lakh crore, require careful examination against established technical evidence,” it said in a statement.
It noted that over 30 crore two-wheelers and 4 crore four-wheelers have been running on E20 fuel for more than three years.
“Every day, over 6 crore people visit petrol pumps to refuel. If there were a widespread issue with E20 fuel quality, it would be expected to manifest in vehicle breakdowns across this large vehicle base. No such widespread incidence has been reported. This extensive, real-world usage is an important consideration in assessing claims relating to fuel quality and vehicle performance,” the statement added.
Published on November 6, 2026
