AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday, 7 July 2026 appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that petrol pumps across India continue to offer E0, E10, and E20 fuel variants side by side, warning that a forced shift to E20-only supply would effectively render hundreds of millions of existing vehicles unusable.

Context

Posting on X in Hindi, Kejriwal said, 'मैं मोदी जी से हाथ जोड़कर विनती करता हूँ' ('I appeal to Modi ji with folded hands'), urging the government to give citizens a choice rather than impose a single fuel standard. He cited figures of 22 crore motorcycles and 8 crore cars that he claimed were not engineered to run on E20 blended petrol, arguing that a mandatory switchover would turn these vehicles into 'scrap.' He called for the decision on fuel type to rest with vehicle owners, not the state.

The post comes as India's nationwide E20 rollout — petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol — moves from pilot to mainstream retail, intensifying a public debate on compatibility and consumer rights.

Policy Backdrop

The National Policy on Biofuels, 2018 laid the original roadmap for progressive ethanol blending, initially targeting 20 per cent blending by 2030. In 2021, the central government advanced that deadline to 2025, citing goals of cutting crude-oil imports, supporting sugarcane farmers, and reducing tailpipe emissions. The programme has since moved from voluntary E10 availability toward a mandatory E20 rollout at fuel retail outlets.

Automobile manufacturers have progressively introduced E20-compatible engines in newer models, but a large share of the existing vehicle fleet — bought under earlier standards — was not designed for higher-ethanol blends. Industry bodies have flagged concerns about fuel-system degradation and mileage loss in older two-wheelers and passenger cars running on E20.

Stakeholders and Impact

The debate cuts across several constituencies. Vehicle owners, particularly those with older motorcycles and entry-level cars, face the most immediate concern about engine wear and warranty implications. Oil marketing companies must weigh the infrastructure cost of maintaining parallel fuel grades at every pump against the logistical simplicity of a single blended standard. Sugarcane farmers and ethanol producers, on the other hand, have a direct economic interest in the widest possible adoption of higher-blend fuels.

Kejriwal's intervention frames the issue explicitly as one of consumer choice, positioning the opposition argument not against the ethanol programme itself but against the removal of lower-blend or pure-petrol options from forecourts.

What's Next

The central government has not formally responded to the demand for mandatory multi-grade availability at all retail outlets. Regulatory clarity from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Bureau of Indian Standards on whether E0 and E10 must be retained alongside E20 will be the key policy signal to watch. With the E20 rollout already under way at hundreds of pumps, any reversal or parallel-supply mandate would require both supply-chain adjustments and revised retail norms. The political pressure from opposition leaders like Kejriwal is likely to keep this issue in public discourse ahead of any formal regulatory review.