Kathmandu, Feb. 23 -- A decade after India began blending ethanol with petrol, Nepal is preparing to cut its costly oil imports by mixing domestically produced ethanol into imported fuel.

According to Indian media reports, India introduced ethanol blending in 2014, starting at 1.5 percent.

By 2017, it had increased the blend to 10 percent, known as E10. In April 2023, India rolled out 20 percent ethanol-blended petrol, or E20, nationwide, becoming one of the fastest adopters among ethanol-using nations.

The Indian government says the programme saved $12.09 billion in crude oil imports over a decade and avoided 54.4 million tonnes of carbon emissions-equivalent to taking 12 million petrol cars off the road annually.

But the gains have ...