Emails reviewed by Reuters show that leading Indian automakers privately raised concerns about contamination in petrol blended with 20 per cent ethanol, despite publicly supporting the government’s nationwide rollout of E20 fuel.
The communications emerged after India’s main auto industry body, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), withdrew a complaint about fuel contamination shortly after the government publicly assured consumers that E20 petrol was safe.
Internal discussions involving Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors and Mahindra showed that automakers had collected more than 250 fuel samples from petrol stations across as many as 21 of India’s 36 states and territories. Their testing found elevated chloride and moisture levels in numerous samples.
The findings represent some of the industry’s most extensive fuel testing since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government began expanding E20 nationwide last year to reduce pollution and reliance on imported oil.
With E20 now the only petrol available in India since April 1, motorists have increasingly raised concerns over reduced vehicle mileage, performance and potential damage.
SIAM withdrew its July 28 letter after the warning triggered a government and public backlash, saying “some numbers” required “authentication”. However, the private emails reviewed by Reuters showed no concerns from executives about the authenticity of the data.
SIAM said the information was intended for internal discussion and validation and had been collected by “very few” automakers. It later said the sample size and testing methodology were insufficient to support definitive conclusions and that it planned to conduct a proper scientific study.
The government has disputed concerns over widespread contamination. Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said oil companies had begun extensive testing before receiving SIAM’s complaint and had detected only four cases of contamination. State-run fuel retailers also said their tests found “no cause for any alarm on account of fuel contamination”.
Mahindra rejected the conclusions drawn from its executive’s emails, describing them as “completely baseless and incorrect” and saying the available industry data was limited and preliminary. Maruti and Tata did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Auto industry flagged chloride concerns
The controversy has intensified as motorists complain that E20 has reduced fuel economy and increased vehicle wear, with hundreds of consumers raising concerns and at least one court challenge being filed.
SIAM had previously warned that high chloride levels could corrode vehicle components, while excessive moisture in petrol could cause vehicles to stop functioning immediately after refuelling.
In an internal email exchange, Maruti senior executive Anoop Bhat highlighted high chloride readings and said the issue had already been discussed privately with the petroleum ministry on July 26.
Industry data showed chloride concentrations ranging from 6 to 570 parts per million (ppm) in Rajasthan, 1.4 to 420 ppm in New Delhi and 10 to 357 ppm in Maharashtra. The government’s permissible limit is 3 ppm.
Moisture levels were recorded as high as 13,000 ppm in Andhra Pradesh and 12,500 ppm in Uttar Pradesh, compared with the government benchmark of 3,000 ppm.
The source of the contamination remains unclear. SIAM said chloride levels appeared to have increased since E20 was introduced and urged the government to instruct oil companies to identify the cause. It suggested that moisture contamination could be linked to inadequate “maintenance of the underground storage tanks and pipelines at retail outlets”.
Maruti’s Bhat wrote that 1 ppm of chloride was the maximum current fuel injectors “can tolerate”, adding that keeping levels “Lesser than 1 ppm in E20 is also in line with international standards.”
Mahindra senior principal engineer of fluids technology R. Ramaprabhu said organic chloride was responsible for the rapid vehicle failures being reported and could damage engines “within 200km”.
“Majority cases reported immediately after fuelling … is due to organic chloride,” he wrote, adding that Mahindra had “strong evidences” from fuel samples collected at retail outlets.
Ramaprabhu and Bhat did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
