GOBARdhan Scheme Launch for Compressed Biogas Sector Development
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri launched the GOBARdhan Central Sector Scheme on October 1, 2026, to accelerate the development of India's Compressed Biogas (CBG) sector. The Scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet on August 6, 2026, with a total outlay of ₹23,731 crore, provides a ten-year implementation framework from FY 2026–27 to FY 2035–36 aimed at increasing domestic CBG production nearly 10-fold to approximately 5 MMSCMD.
The integrated scheme addresses key sector constraints through six major interventions: assured CBG offtake, stable pricing framework, capital assistance for projects, pipeline infrastructure development, credit guarantee support, and ecosystem development funding. Under the offtake framework, CBG plants will be mapped to identified City Gas Distribution geographical areas or CBG clusters, with CBG Obligation (CBO) requirements mandating CGD entities to procure 3% CBG in FY 2026–27, 4% in FY 2027–28, and 5% from FY 2028–29 onwards for both CNG (Transport) and PNG (Domestic) segments.
The Scheme introduces an administered CBG price of ₹2,110 per MMBtu to provide revenue visibility to producers. Eligible greenfield projects can receive capital assistance of up to ₹2 crore per TPD of installed CBG capacity, covering plant machinery, feedstock aggregation, and manure value-addition equipment. For pipeline infrastructure, support of up to 80% of eligible capital expenditure is available for pipelines connecting CBG clusters to trunk pipeline networks, and up to 50% for standalone plants connecting to CGD networks.
A dedicated credit guarantee mechanism for MSME-based CBG projects will cover up to 85% of outstanding amounts at default, with guarantee caps of ₹20 crore per project for general MSME projects and ₹25 crore for women-led MSME projects. The CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund will support technology development, capacity building, feedstock assessment, and district-level ecosystem development.
India's CBG ecosystem currently has 217+ commissioned plants as of August 2026 with installed capacity exceeding 1,700 TPD. The Scheme is expected to generate significant economic benefits including over ₹40,000 crore in foreign-exchange savings, more than ₹75,000 crore added to GDP, and creation of over 1.5 lakh jobs. Environmental benefits include replacement of 10 million tonnes of fossil fuel with clean gas, reduction of more than 40 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions, and production of 250 million tonnes of organic manure.
The launch included the unveiling of the GOBARdhan Handbook as a comprehensive reference guide and the Unified GOBARdhan Portal as a centralized digital platform designed to streamline applications and enhance transparency throughout processing and implementation.