NEW DELHI: Government on Monday hinted that ethanol blending in petrol can be increased to 21% from the current 20%, considering the tolerance level of vehicles.Responding to a question on whether discussions have started to increase the ethanol blending in the light of ongoing conflict in West Asia, heavy industries additional secretary Hanif Qureshi said, “Govt is committed to use biofuels as far as possible and E20 has already taken place. The BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) has also said that +/- 1 per cent blending can be there. So, about 21%… that much level can be there.”Govt has maintained that the ethanol blended petrol (EBP) programme has helped India save around 4.5 crore barrels of crude annually and has saved around Rs 1.65 lakh crore in terms of foreign exchange so far.People involved in EBP and analysing its impact said while a slight increase in blending won’t be an issue for vehicles manufactured after April 2023, which are compliant to E20, it can be a problem for vehicles manufactured before 2023. “Increased blending will be more effective when our vehicle engines are designed accordingly,” said one of them.Last week while speaking on the sidelines of a conference of sugar industry lobby group, ISMA, food secretary Sanjeev Chopra had said that the industry has been demanding to increase the blending and there is a surplus capacity of ethanol manufacturing. “We may get some news before the next ethanol supply year (starts in Nov),” he said.Govt has set up a panel of senior officials from ministries including petroleum, food, heavy industries and road transport to suggest the roadmap for increasing ethanol blending.On Monday, Qureshi also pointed out that FFVs, which can use upto 85% of ethanol blended petrol, are another avenue to reduce import dependence on crude oil. “The industry has already come up with models, which are compliant with flex fuels. The engines can take that blend without any degradation in performance. So, we have seen development of 4-wheelers as well as 2-wheelers, which are capable of using flex fuels. We are confident that the use of flex fuels will also grow. That will also ease pressure on crude oil imports,” he said.