Comprehensive overview and proposal of strategies for the ethanol sector in India.

The Government of India has recognized the use of ethanol to be beneficial for the country's environment and energy security. So, ethanol blending has been mandated in India to harvest the benefits of using it as fuel. However, the ethanol blending target can never be fulfilled as the average ethanol production (2068.5 Million Liters) for the last 10 years (2010–19) is far less than the average consumption (3370 Million Liters), and the demand for ethanol is even higher than the present consumption. Hence, the import of ethanol is increasing. This indicates the necessity of improvement of the Indian ethanol sector to meet the desired targets. So, it is required to develop proper strategies based on the sector's extensive assessment for its improvement. In this context, this paper presents a comprehensive overview of the ethanol sector in India, including the production, consumption, feedstocks, trades, and policy for ethanol in India. Further, a social, technological, economic, environmental, and political (STEEP) analysis of the Indian ethanol sector has been performed to identify the important factors associated with the growth of this sector. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis is also carried out in this paper to categorize the STEEP factors into barriers and drivers associated with this sector. Finally, strategies have been formulated and recommended based on the SWOT factors to mitigate the barriers with the help of the drivers. These strategies are expected to help policymakers improve the overall scenario of the Indian ethanol sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]