NEW DELHI: Petroleum minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Wednesday said flex-fuel vehicles offer India a practical way to reduce crude oil imports. He said if even 1% of annual petrol vehicle sales shift to the technology, it would generate demand for four crore litres of ethanol and save Rs 195 crore in foreign exchange each year. Puri also said this would lead to a reduction of approximately 0.3 lakh metric tonnes in crude oil imports and net reduction of nearly 0.9 lakh metric tonnes of CO2 emissions.“Around Rs 160 crore would flow directly to our farmers instead of going out of the country for oil imports,” Puri said, adding that the impact would be significant as flex-fuel technology scales across India’s two-wheeler ecosystem.Transport minister Nitin Gadkari said India, as the world’s largest two-wheeler market, is well-positioned to lead the transition towards flex-fuel mobility and it would reduce emissions by 77%. tnn