India greenlights soft loans for 422 ethanol facilities in 22 states

In India, the Economic Times newspaper reports the government has green lighted funding for 422 ethanol projects across 22 states that should produce and additional 16.7 billion liters of ethanol, requiring investment of nearly $5.6 billion. Current installed ethanol production is 6.84 billion liters. Nearly half of the project proposals came from grain distillers while 141 of the total were for mixed grain and molasses facilities. In order to achieve 20% blending, 10 billion liters of ethanol is required, in addition to 400 million liters for chemical and industrial use.