by control_zenuser | Apr 24, 2023 | In the news
Consumer VOICE , a Voluntary Action Group of Academicians, Professionals and Volunteers, working to raise awareness amongst Indian consumers about their rights, has demanded that the government should involve health authorities and formulae a central level policy to moderate consumption of liquor in India, which incidentally has seen a steep hike in the past few years, specially among the youth.
As per an Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) and PLR report in 2016, India’s average per capita consumption was the highest in the world at 13.5 litres of pure alcohol from hard liquor (whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor) in comparison to just 1.1 litres of pure alcohol from beer.
However, in most other countries, beer consumption was far higher than hard liquor. In Australia, it was 5.3 litres vs 1.7 litres; in Brazil, it was 11.9 and 6.6 litres; in Canada, it was 6.2 and 3.6 litres and in the USA, it was 6.4 and 4.8 litres.
Pure alcohol is the actual alcohol content, which varies across beverages. For instance, in mild beer (650 ml)— 32.5 ml of pure alcohol is used while in red/white wine (750 ml)—97.5 ml of pure alcohol and 321 ml of pure alcohol is used in IMFL (750 ml bottle of whiskey, vodka, gin, rum etc).
by control_zenuser | Apr 24, 2023 | In the news
As India does not have a central policy to reduce alcohol consumption and is among the few countries which do not have guidelines on safe consumption, there is an urgent need for the government to recognise this issue and introduce cost-effective actions, including increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages, said a consumer rights group.
Urging the government to consider a complete ban on the sale of alcohol in all forms of ultra-small packs or miniatures, sold in tetra, plastic or glass bottles, below a certain quantity, Consumer Voice said what is worrying is that consumption has increased among the age group of 15-30 years.Quoting the World Health Organization (WHO), Ashim Sanyal, the chief executive officer of the organisation, said that between 2005 and 2016, India’s per capita consumption of pure alcohol almost doubled from 2.4 litres to 5.7 litres.Most of this consumption was from beverages with high alcohol-by-volume content or hard liquor such as whiskey, vodka, rum, gin, IMFLs and country liquor, he added.
by control_zenuser | Apr 16, 2023 | In the news
A simple search on Google’s News section yielded about 75,00,000 results; the top news being Google and Amazon scheduled to attend a White House forum on Quantum Technology.
by control_zenuser | Jan 30, 2023 | In the news
By Rudra Saxena and Jiyen Khullar, 27 January 2023
In June 2022, India was able to achieve its ethanol blending target of 10 percent, also called E10, five months ahead of schedule. The government’s next target is to achieve a 20 percent blend or E20 by the end of 2025. To lessen India’s reliance on fossil fuels and reduce carbon emissions and air pollution, ethanol has been identified as an essential biofuel.
Ethanol is a renewable fuel and burns cleaner than petrol1 , resulting in lower particulate matter (PM 2.4 and 10) and tailpipe emissions, contributing to reducing air pollution. According to a NITI Aayog report, an E20 blend leads to greater reductions in carbon monoxide emissions, which were 50 percent lower in two-wheelers and 30 percent lower in four-wheelers. Compared to regular petrol, ethanol blends have a 20 percent reduction in hydrocarbon emissions at a 20 percent blend rate.
In addition to contributing to the environment, ethanol has several other benefits. For instance, it provides additional income to farmers, reduces dependence on oil imports and benefits consumers as it naturally has a high-octane number.
Ethanol blends well with petrol and can be used in most gasoline engines without any alterations, at the current 10 percent blend levels. However, to achieve the ambitious blending of 20 percent, there are two key areas India will need to achieve – to increase ethanol production capacity from the current 700 to 1500 million liters and to ensure new and existing vehicles are compatible with a 20 percent blend.
Similar to Brazil, the Indian government plans to introduce FFVs, or Flex Fuel Vehicles, which can run on zero to E85 blended fuel (an ethanol-petrol blend that contains 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent petrol). This will go a long way in reducing emissions and saving on India’s crude import bill. Once the country achieves 20 percent ethanol blending, India will be the second-highest ethanol blending country behind only Brazil – which currently blends at 27 percent.
Rudra and Jiyen are students at the Ashoka University, majoring in Economics and Finance, and Computer Science.
by control_zenuser | Jan 30, 2023 | In the news
By Arnav Mehra and Manav Sharma, 25 January 2023
Biennially held in India, the Auto Expo is one of the largest automotive trade fairs in Asia which sees participation from automobile manufacturers, OEMs and stakeholders of the automobile industry from India and around the world. This year, the Expo featured a wide range of automobiles including cars, two-wheelers, trucks and buses, and new fuel technologies like electric, hybrid and flex-fuel vehicles.
Given the Indian Government’s focus towards higher ethanol blending, for the first time this year the Expo featured an Ethanol Pavilion to create awareness about ethanol as a renewable and reliable fuel for automobiles and promote its adoption and use. The Pavilion saw participation from stakeholders like The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Praj Industries, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), the U.S. Grains Council (USGC), UNICA – The Union of the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry of Brazil, Growth Energy and the Renewable Fuels Association of the U.S.
Mr. Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, visited the pavilion and spoke about the benefits of ethanol, and reiterated India’s commitment to achieving a 20 percent blending mandate by 2025. Mr. Puri said that India had advanced from ethanol blending of 1.53 percent in 2013-14 to a 10.17 percent blending in 2022. That, this increased use of ethanol had translated into savings of ₹41,500 crore of forex (Over USD 5 billion), reduced greenhouse emissions by 27 lakh million tonnes and helped farmers with payments worth ₹40,600 crores (Approx. USD 5 billion) in the last 8 years.
In the Minister’s presence, Mr Vinod Aggarwal from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) and Mr Josh Miller from The U.S. Grains Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with an objective to support higher domestic ethanol blending by creating awareness about its use, increase domestic production, ensure automotive compatibility, and create a favourable policy environment.
Ethanol is a biofuel that is made primarily from sources such as sugar cane, corn, and other food grains. It is a renewable fuel source that is domestically produced in the country and helps to reduce dependence on foreign oil as well as fossil fuels. Using ethanol as a blend with gasoline, in varying quantities like E10 (10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline), E15, E27 and E85 is a common practice in several countries like Brazil and the United States. One of the key benefits of using ethanol is that it reduces emissions and smog-forming pollutants, making it an environmentally friendly option.
With climate change being a priority globally, significance of ethanol has increased as it lowers the carbon content in petrol and helps reduce particulate matter emissions, contributing to better air quality. As Ethanol has a high-octane number of 113, it reduces engine knocking and helps improve fuel and engine efficiency. The high-octane rating of ethanol allows for higher compression ratios in engines, which potentially results in efficient combustion and more power.
Today many countries, such as Brazil, Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, China and France, have integrated ethanol into their fuels. For instance, Brazil has a high ethanol blend of 27 percent with petrol while the U.S. has a mandate of 10 percent blend and provides consumers to choose from a variety of different blends like E15, E30 and E85 at the fuel stations. The Indian government achieved its 10 percent blending in June 2022, five months ahead of its November 2022 target, and aims to achieve a 20 percent blend by 2025.
Increased use of ethanol and India moving towards a 20 percent blend will not only contribute to India reducing its oil import bill but will also go a long way in reducing our carbon emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.
Arnav and Manav are students at the Ashoka University, majoring in Economics and Psychology.
by | Jul 13, 2022 | In the news, Uncategorized
The monsoon session of the parliament will start from 18 July 2022 and continue till 12 August 2022. The Election Commission of India also announced that the presidential election will be held on 18 July and the vote count will take place on 21 July, a few days prior to when President Ram Nath Kovind’s tenure comes to an end on 24 July. The ruling party’s (Bhartiya Janta Party) candidate for the Presidency is Ms. Draupadi Murmu, former Governor of the state of Jharkhand and the opposition’s candidate is Mr. Yashwant Sinha, a former BJP leader and former Finance Minister. In addition to the presidential election, the vice-presidential election will also take place during the session.
The government is anticipating a busy session, with at least 25 bills pending. These include the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019; the Weapons of Mass Destruction and Delivery Systems (Prohibition of Unlawful Activities) Amendment Bill, 2022 (the bill prohibits individuals from funding any unlawful activity involving weapons of mass destruction or their delivery systems); the Mediation Bill, 2021; The Wildlife (Protection) Amendment Bill, 2021; the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021; and, the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019.
The Bank Privatisation Bill, a legislation for privatisation of select public sector banks, which has been in the works for several months is also likely to be presented in the monsoon session. The centre wants to maintain a minimal presence in the financial sector by lowering the minimum stake in Public Sector Banks (PSBs) from 51 percent to 26 percent. However, the government will only exit those PSBs that have been identified for privatization. These include the Indian Overseas Bank, the Central Bank of India, and UCO Bank.
The government is also expected to introduce a new law to replace the current SEZ Act, 2005, which governs Special Economic Zones (SEZ), with the Development of Enterprise and Service Hubs (DESH) Act in order to bring SEZs in compliance with the norms of the World Trade Organization (WTO). The proposed regulation also proposes to allow development hubs to house offshore banking entities, subject to the approval of the Reserve Bank of India.
In this session, the opposition is expected to raise several issues such as inflation, the overall economic situation (unemployment, fall in rupee and slow recovery of labour markets), the Agnipath scheme and the demand to extend the GST compensation period (An act which was introduced by the government in 2017 to compensate the states for the loss of revenue arising due to the implementation of GST). The recent political crisis in Maharashtra which resulted in change in the government is also likely to be raised in the parliament.
Gateway Consulting is a public policy firm headquartered in Gurugram, India. For more information, please contact Tushar Gandhi, CEO on +91 8879004364 / tushar.gandhi@gatewayconsulting.co.in
