Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari has told The Indian Express that while the average mileage of vehicles may have marginally reduced because of blending petrol with ethanol, the claims made online about damage to cars are “overblown” and part of a “false narrative”.

“Show me a single car that has suffered damage because of E20 fuel,” the newspaper on Thursday quoted him as saying. “What is being circulated on social media is part of a concerted false narrative.”

Gadkari said that vehicle manufacturers had been asked to replace parts of older cars during servicing that may have suffered minor damage.

The comments came amid criticism by vehicle owners that E20 fuel was reducing mileage and damaging cars.

The minister said the E20 variant of petrol, which has 20% ethanol, was introduced across the country in 2025 after it had been cleared in multiple tests carried out by vehicle manufacturers and Pune-based government-run testing lab Automotive Research Association of India, the newspaper reported.

The minister was quoted as saying that there is a difference in calorific value between ethanol and petrol. “...mileage also depends on driving conditions, especially in cities such as Delhi or Mumbai, where vehicles stay in lower gears due to driving conditions…” he told the newspaper.

Gadkari cited the automotive research association’s report as saying that there was no problem with mileage efficiency for cars specifically built with flex-fuel engines. He added that the flex-engine technology was being worked on.

Not decided policy alone, says Gadkari

Gadkari has been defending the government’s 20% Ethanol Blended Petrol programme, claiming on Wednesday that no car in the country was facing problems because of E20 petrol.

On Wednesday, Gadkari told India Today that the ethanol blending policy was framed collectively by government departments and not his decision alone. “The entire process is conducted after consultation with the petroleum ministry, the Cabinet and scientific research,” he was quoted as saying.

The programme currently mandates the sale of petrol blended with 20% ethanol. India hit its target of reaching a 20% ethanol mix in petrol in July 2025, five years ahead of schedule.

The blending of ethanol with petrol is part of India’s broader energy transition strategy aimed at reducing dependency on fossil fuels, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and boosting income for sugarcane farmers.

Consumer complaints

Consumers have complained that the new fuel mix damages engines and reduces their mileage.

An opinion poll by LocalCircles published on Sunday showed that 53% of the surveyed petrol vehicle owners said that they believe that the government’s handling of E20 rollout was “disastrous” or “ineffective”.

Sixty-six percent of the respondents said that they were experiencing a more than 10% drop in mileage with E20. Forty-five percent of the surveyed users said that their cars had suffered moderate to major increase in wear and tear, or needed repairs, according to the polling conducted in June.

A report in October, which analysed government and industry data, said that only about 20% of new petrol vehicles sold in India in the last 15 years were compliant with the E20 fuel blend.

On December 11, Gadkari told Parliament that the government had tested older vehicles running on E20 fuel and found no case of engine failure.

The vehicles covered almost 1 lakh km in the tests conducted by the automotive research association, the minister said.

Gadkari had added at the time that the research association had observed “no impact” of E20 fuel on the vehicles’ performance, start ability, drive ability and metal capability.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.