India is interested in Brazilian ethanol technology, according to the commerce secretary

India hopes to lessen its reliance on imported crude oil by studying and using cutting-edge Brazilian ethanol blending methods.

India hopes to lessen its reliance on imported crude oil by studying and using cutting-edge Brazilian ethanol blending methods.

The two countries have also resolved to increase trade by double, with a goal of reaching $50 billion by 2030 from the current $15.2 billion.

We believe Brazil and India may benefit from one another's experience in the critical field of mixing ethanol and biofuels. In fact, Brazil has very sophisticated technologies for blending ethanol with gasoline and diesel, which will contribute to reducing our reliance on crude oil and petroleum imports, according to Sunil Barthwal, the secretary of commerce, during the October 13 release of trade data.

India has stepped up attempts to blend 20 percent ethanol into gasoline by 2025 in an effort to lessen its dependency on crude oil imports. As of June 2022, the average percentage of ethanol in gasoline was 10%.

Brazil, a major producer of sugarcane and ethanol, was a pioneer in incorporating biofuels into its fuel economy. India is hoping to gain from this by adopting some of the blending methods employed by Brazil.

According to figures from the Department of Commerce, the nation's overall imports of crude oil increased to $162.2 billion in FY23 from $107.5 billion the year before.

For the sixth meeting of the India-Brazil Trade Monitoring Mechanism, which took place from October 1–4, Barthwal was in Brazil on an official visit. According to him, "several issues were taken forward."

The two nations are also interested in working together on renewable energy and biofuels. We are also discussing ways to support MSMEs in both countries. In the tourism industry, there is also tremendous room for sectoral cooperation, the secretary continued.

Brazil has also joined the Global Biofuel Alliance, which was created by India with the intention of forging a partnership between governments, international organizations, and businesses to promote the use of biofuels.

The MERCOSUR pact, which presently only covers 52 products and four tariff lines, was also reviewed by the two countries as a method to grow it. "Both sides agreed that it should be expanded to all the tariff lines where trade occurs and there should be the expansion of goods and services trade between the countries," Barthwal stated.

Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay are members of MERCOSUR, a commercial bloc in South America. On January 25, 2004, a PTA was signed in New Delhi between India and MERCOSUR.

To maximize the potential of their economic alliance, Modi and Lula had agreed on September 10 to collaborate in order to expand the India-MERCOSUR Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) while Brazil is the MERCOSUR President.