Karnataka claims petrol sold as E20 has up to 31.2% ethanol, cites lab tests of 63 samples

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government has raised serious questions about the Centre's ethanol blending policy. The state says its lab tests show that petrol sold as "E20" contains up to 31.2 per cent ethanol. It has also alleged that the Centre is irregular in ethanol blending. Karnataka's Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Rizwan Arshad, released the lab report and called it direct fraud on customers.

E20 petrol means fuel blended with 20 per cent ethanol, so the ethanol content of such petrol should be around 20 per cent.

On how the investigation began, the government says it had been receiving continuous complaints about ethanol blending. Samples of petrol, 63 in all, were then taken from petrol pumps in different districts of the state. These were sent to the labs of the respective public and private sector oil companies so that the ethanol percentage in the petrol could be clearly established. According to the government, the oil companies did not state the ethanol content clearly. The state government therefore had the samples tested at its authorised private lab.

The lab report is said to show that samples taken from seven districts of Karnataka contained more than the prescribed 20 per cent ethanol. It is claimed that four out of every five petrol pumps in the state are selling petrol with ethanol above the prescribed limit. A notable feature of the report is that none of the samples tested had exactly 20 per cent ethanol.

The Karnataka government has also put forward an estimate of the losses. It claims that if ethanol blending reduces vehicle mileage by up to 10 per cent, motorists could suffer a loss of about Rs 62,000 crore every year. A further loss of about Rs 39,000 crore could result from higher servicing and maintenance costs for vehicles. The government has feared that the total loss could reach about Rs 1 lakh crore.

Minister Rizwan Arshad has demanded that the Centre intervene in the matter. He said the Centre should create a "spoilage fund" to pay compensation or refunds to owners of vehicles that use petrol with ethanol above the prescribed limit.