The government on 15 December, 2023 allowed use of both sugarcane juice and B-heavy molasses, a byproduct of the sweetener, to produce ethanol. It includes an overall cap of 17 lakh tonne of diversion of sugar.

The revised order came a week after the Centre had banned the use of cane juice for ethanol production.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the committee of ministers amist demand from the sugar and sugar-based distillery industries to review the order. There were concerns raised by the sugar industry as nearly three dozen distilleries were only sugarcane-based.

Earlier speaking on the sideline of a summit by ISMA, a sugar industry lobby group, Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra had said that a fresh notification would be out soon in this regard. As for the demand to allow diversion of another 13-14 lakh tonne of sugar for ethanol production this year, he informed the situation will be reviewed in a month or two.