Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener Arvind Kejriwal has urged the Central Government to immediately suspend the implementation of 20% ethanol-blended petrol (E20) nationwide, saying the move imposes a burden on consumers when there are serious issues with vehicle performance and maintenance.
In a video address, Kejriwal had called the Centre's claims on transparency of the initiative "a sheer lie". He referred to a recent report from the Supreme Court hearing on June 30 that the Attorney General referred to the E20 mandate as an "ongoing experiment. Kejriwal strongly criticised this framing as he opined that it was better to be an experiment and not be imposed on a population of 1.4 billion. The AAP chief has asked the government to either revise the price in proportion to the drop in the mileage of the vehicle or give direct compensation to the people facing damage to their vehicles and high maintenance costs due to fuel's drop in mileage under specific conditions, which was quoted by a Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) executive. He also plans to directly write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to demand the withdrawal of the policy altogether.
The Union Government has flatly denied all these claims. In a formal denial, the Ministry of Law and Justice explained that the Attorney General had never said the program was an experiment and that media reports had "misreported" on the government's official legal submissions. At the same time, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas denied the claims of widespread engine damage saying the E20 blending program was based on a scientific evaluation which is practised in countries like the United States, Brazil and Japan and is successful. The Centre is still referring to the project as an important measure to achieve less crude oil dependence and to secure national energy supply as well as to reduce carbon emissions.
The government's pledge to complete the blending target is not reassuring consumers of rising concerns about implementation of the blending mandate, since India is reaching the E20 goals ahead of schedule. The findings suggest a real-world effect, as over 44,000 owners of petrol cars built before 2023 responded to a survey by LocalCircles. The study found that 66% of those surveyed indicated a decrease in fuel efficiency of more than 10% since early 2025, and 55% of respondents indicated that their vehicles were experiencing increased wear and tear or repair needs. The E20 transition has become an intensely divisive economic and political discussion as opposition leaders rally on consumer complaints.