Hours after the Centre made public assurances that its ethanol-blended petrol was safe, India’s essential auto foyer withdrew a criticism about gas contamination it had despatched to the Authorities every week earlier. The group mentioned some figures wanted extra checks.
However separate communications between trade executives, reviewed by Reuters, confirmed that within the previous days, prime automakers Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra mentioned their issues about contamination of petrol blended with 20% ethanol, referred to as E20.
Their information compiled essentially the most complete gas testing accomplished by the trade since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Authorities began rolling out E20 nationwide from final 12 months to assist curb air pollution and minimize oil imports.
With no different petrol obtainable since April 1, client issues have grown about the impression on automobile efficiency.
The carmakers’ emails present for the primary time how they’re privately frightened about contaminants in E20, like chloride and moisture, which they are saying are hurting automobiles, whilst they publicly back the government’s rollout of the fuel.
The Society of Indian Car Producers (SIAM) withdrew its July 28 letter on gas contamination after a authorities and public uproar over the warning, saying “some numbers” want “authentication”.
The beforehand unreported trade information and emails reviewed by Reuters present “a number of” automakers had already performed intensive assessments by gathering over 250 gas samples from pumps over a 12 months from as many as 21 States and Union Territories. They discovered excessive chloride contamination in lots of the samples in 18 States, in addition to excessive moisture content material.
The executives’ emails raised no concern about information authentication.
Requested for touch upon the non-public emails, SIAM advised Reuters the information was supposed just for inner circulation, dialogue and validation, and picked up by “only a few” automakers.
Maruti, Tata and Mahindra, who have been a part of the SIAM inner emails seen by Reuters, account for 67% of India’s automotive market.
As “the testing foundation and pattern dimension have been inadequate to assist definitive conclusions, the communication was withdrawn” because it was despatched inadvertently, SIAM mentioned, including it intends to undertake a correct scientific examine.
The Ministry of Petroleum and Pure Fuel didn’t reply to requests for remark. Minister Hardeep Singh Puri mentioned on Friday that two weeks previous to receiving the letter from SIAM, India’s oil advertising corporations had begun “rigorous testing” of gas at stores to test for contamination.
Solely 4 circumstances of contamination have been discovered, he mentioned. State-run gas retailers additionally mentioned final week that intensive random and scientific assessments confirmed “no trigger for any alarm on account of gas contamination”.
Mahindra mentioned conclusions drawn from its government’s emails “are fully baseless and incorrect”, trade information is restricted and preliminary, and it doesn’t see points with E20. Maruti and Tata didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Auto trade met Govt to flag chloride issues
E20 has angered motorists, with tons of alleging it has diminished mileage and elevated put on and tear on their automobiles, and triggered no less than one court docket problem.
SIAM had earlier mentioned excessive ranges of chloride are corrosive for auto elements, whereas excessive moisture ranges in gas can immobilise a automobile instantly after fuelling.
Within the group emails exchanged amongst Maruti, Tata, Mahindra and SIAM, Maruti’s senior government Anoop Bhat raised issues on the excessive chloride findings saying this had been privately mentioned with the petroleum ministry on July 26.
The tabulated State-wide findings shared by the trade on group emails confirmed they recorded chloride ranges of 6 to 570 elements per million (ppm) in Rajasthan, 1.4 to 420 ppm in New Delhi and 10 to 357 ppm in Maharashtra.
The Indian authorities says the permissible restrict is 3 ppm.
The information tables additionally confirmed moisture ranges reaching 13,000 ppm in Andhra Pradesh and 12,500 ppm in Uttar Pradesh, versus a permissible authorities benchmark of three,000 ppm.
Whereas the rationale for contamination just isn’t identified, SIAM mentioned in its now withdrawn letter it had seen a rise in chloride ranges because the rollout of E20 and has requested the federal government to direct oil advertising corporations to seek out the basis trigger.
For moisture, the SIAM letter famous, the trigger could possibly be insufficient “upkeep of the underground storage tanks and pipelines at stores”.
Maruti’s Mr. Bhat wrote in his July 26 electronic mail that 1 ppm of chloride was the utmost that present gas injectors, which transport gas to the engine, “can tolerate”.
“Lesser than 1 ppm in E20 can also be according to worldwide requirements. Identical is according to dialogue held with” the petroleum ministry, Mr. Bhat wrote.
Mahindra’s senior principal engineer of fluids expertise, R. Ramaprabhu, mentioned in emails that natural chloride is the contaminant liable for the very fast automobile failures the trade is seeing and may spoil engines “inside 200 km”.
“Majority circumstances reported instantly after fuelling … is because of natural chloride,” he wrote, including that Mahindra has “robust evidences” of gas pattern information from stores.
Mahindra’s Mr. Ramaprabhu and Maruti’s Mr. Bhat didn’t reply to Reuters’ queries.
Revealed – August 13, 2026 04:01 pm IST
