The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will host a webinar on ‘Ethanol roadmap for 2025’ on 22 April 2022.   

CII said in a statement that the webinar, supported by GPS Renewables, aims to highlight the market opportunity of 1G Ethanol projects to achieve India’s target of 20 per cent ethanol blending with petrol by 2025. The webinar will focus on key aspects such as debt financing and feedstock availability challenges, project risks like input, tech and output, technology readiness, and government policies.  

Milind Patke, President, Biofuels, GPS Renewables, said, “We are thrilled to partner with CII to identify and address some of the roadblocks in achieving India’s E20 target. Our aim is to bring together key stakeholders in the industry to find solutions for issues hampering ethanol production. Through this tailor-made webinar and more events in the future, we aim to bridge the gap between lenders and project developers, and help speed up the country's ethanol capacity building process.”  

The key speakers are Sangeet, Chief Director (Sugar), Department of Food and Public Distribution; B. Sankar, CGM, SBI; Sanjay Rudra GM, Bank of Maharashtra; Sridhar Goud, ED, Supplies Operations and Distribution, HPCL; Anurag Saraogi, CGM, BPCL – Biofuels; Saurabh Banerjee, GM, Biofuels, IOCL; Atul Mulay, President, Biofuels, Praj Industries, Roshan Lal Tamak, Member, CII and ED & CEO-Sugar Business, DCM Shriram Ltd; Vijay Nirani, MD, MRN Group; V.N. Raina, DG, AIDA; PK Banerjee, ED, SIAM; Mainak Chakraborty, CEO, GPS Renewables; and Milind Patke, President, Biofuels, GPS Renewables. 

The registration link for the webinar, scheduled to be held from 10.30 am to 1 pm, is
https://bit.ly/3OaPC5W, the release said. 

In order to reduce the country’s dependence on fossil fuels, India has set a target of 20 per cent ethanol blending in petrol by 2025. Currently, 10 per cent ethanol derived from sugarcane or surplus food grain is required to be blended with petrol. As per the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), to meet the 20 per cent objective, India's ethanol production must increase to 10.2 billion litres, with 5.5 billion litres of 1G ethanol produced from sugarcane and 4.7 billion litres produced from grains. 

India’s current ethanol production capacity stands at 3 billion litres, the release said. Lack of financial stability to invest in biofuel plants and uncertainty over the price of bioethanol in the future are some of the key challenges in meeting the ethanol blending target. (MT)

Mumbai-based automotive major Mahindra & Mahindra has announced its wholesales for April 2025 at 84,170 vehicles, a growth of 19 percent, including exports.

The auto major sold a total of 52,330 SUVs in the domestic market, which was 28 percent higher than 41,008 SUVs sold for the same period last year. Commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market came at 22,989 units, which was 4 percent YoY. 

Veejay Nakra, President, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, said, “Building on the strong momentum of last year's performance, we began the year on a strong note in April by achieving SUV sales of 52,330 units, a growth of 28 percent and total vehicle sales of 84,170 units, a 19 percent growth over the same month last year. These numbers indicate the strength of our portfolio and customer offerings.”

JSW MG Motor India, a leading passenger vehicles manufacturer, has announced its wholesales for April 2025.

The company reported sales of 5,829 units, which was 23 percent higher over April 2024, when it sold 4,725 vehicles.

Interestingly, the automaker's popular offering, the Windsor EV, has continued to be the top-selling electric passenger vehicle for the seventh month in a row.

JSW MG Motor India's Windsor EV has now gone home to over 20,000 customers.

Maruti Suzuki India, the country’s largest carmaker, has reported its wholesales of 179,791 units in April 2025, marking a 7 percent increase compared to 168,089 units sold in April 2024. The growth was primarily propelled by strong performance in utility vehicles and a sharp rise in export volumes.

Domestic sales, including passenger and light commercial vehicles, remained flat with 142,053 units, as compared to 140,448 units in April 2024. Within this, light commercial vehicles (LCVs) like the Super Carry saw a significant jump of 34.2 percent, with sales rising to 3,349 units from 2,496 units last year.

In the passenger vehicle segment, SUVs such as the Brezza, Ertiga, Grand Vitara and others recorded a 4.4 percent increase, selling 59,022 units compared to 56,553 in the previous year. However, sales for Eeco declined by 5.2 percent, while the mini segment (Alto, S-Presso) saw a sharp 45 percent drop, falling to 6,332 units from 11,519 units. The compact segment, which includes high-volume models like the Baleno and Swift, grew by 8.1 percent, reaching 61,591 units.

Sales to Toyota Kirloskar Motor rose sharply by 79.2 percent, from 5,481 units to 9,827 units, indicating a growing demand for cross-badged products.

The standout performer was the export segment, which surged 26 percent to 27,911 units from 22,160 units in April 2024. This strong export growth helped bolster the company’s overall numbers despite weaknesses in domestic sub-segments.

While some product lines such as the mid-size sedan Ciaz (-63 percent) continue to struggle.

Tata Motors reported total wholesales of 72,753 units for April 2025, reflecting a 6 percent year-on-year decline from 77,521 units in April 2024.

The passenger vehicle (PV) segment, including electric vehicles, accounted for 45,532 units, down 5 percent from 47,983 units in the same month last year. Within this, domestic PV sales dropped 6 percent to 45,199 units, while international business (IB) sales rose significantly to 333 units, up from 100 units. Electric vehicle sales (domestic + IB) declined 16 percent year-on-year to 5,318 units.

Commercial vehicle (CV) sales stood at 27,221 units, marking an 8 percent YoY drop from 29,538 units in April 2024. Domestic CV sales contracted 10 percent to 25,764 units, while CV exports (IB) grew 43 percent to 1,457 units. Key sub-segments like Small Commercial Vehicles (SCV) and pickups saw a steep 23 percent decline.

Despite growth in certain categories like ILMCV trucks and passenger carriers, overall sales momentum was tempered across both PV and CV segments.