In a major policy shift, the Government has scrapped rice supply at Rs.20/kg to ethanol manufacturers and allowed them to buy at rates discovered in weekly auction. It has capped the quantity of rice from FCI for ethanol at 23 lakh tonnes (lt) by October 31. In a separate order, the government has also allowed sugar mills with distilleries to manufacture ethanol directly from sugarcane as well as B Heavy molasses, lifting the previous ban imposed last year.