Gadkari Confirms It: You Can Still Buy Pure Petrol, You'll Just Pay More

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari addressed the E20 complaints head-on in comments to The Times of India in July 2026. Asked about drivers unhappy with ethanol-blended fuel becoming the default, his answer was direct: people who don't want it can still buy pure petrol, they'll just pay more for it.

It's a short line, but it confirms two things that matter if you own an older car or bike. First, there's no rollback coming. E20 is staying the default at the pump. Second, and more usefully, the government isn't pretending pure petrol has disappeared. It's still sold. It's just priced as a premium product now, not the standard one.

This isn't new information, but it's confirmation

If you've read our other posts, none of this should be a surprise. We've covered what E0 petrol actually is and how the three oil companies each brand their ethanol-free option differently. What Gadkari's statement adds is that this is now explicit government messaging, not just something you'd piece together from pump signage. Pure petrol is a paid-for choice, not a default anyone should expect to stumble into.

That framing matters because it changes the question drivers should be asking. It's no longer "why is this so hard to find," it's "which pump near me actually sells it today."

Knowing it exists doesn't tell you where it is

This is the part official statements never cover, and it's the actual daily problem for anyone who needs ethanol-free fuel. XP100, Speed 100 and Power 100 aren't sold at every outlet under each brand. Stock varies by station and by day. There's no single government locator that shows you, right now, which nearby pump has it in stock, only three separate company websites, each covering only their own outlets.

That gap is exactly why we built E0 Finder. It pulls together publicly listed ethanol-free stations from IOCL, BPCL and HPCL onto one map, so you're not checking three sites to answer one question. Type in your location, or let it use your current one, and see what's actually near you.