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Recently, the Union Cabinet approved the GOBARdhan Scheme, a national circular bioenergy initiative aimed at developing a nationwide waste-to-energy ecosystem and significantly expanding India’s Compressed Biogas (CBG) production.

About GOBARdhan Scheme

• GOBARdhan stands for Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan. The scheme seeks to convert organic and agricultural waste into useful energy and other value-added products, thereby promoting a circular bioeconomy.
• It aims to increase domestic CBG production nearly ten-fold, attract large-scale private investment and establish CBG as an important component of India’s future energy mix.
• The scheme will be implemented from FY 2026–27 to FY 2035–36.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Key Components

The scheme focuses on creating a complete CBG ecosystem rather than providing support only to individual plants.

• Assured CBG Offtake: City Gas Distribution entities will follow a notified CBG blending obligation of 3% in FY 2026–27, 4% in FY 2027–28 and 5% from FY 2028–29 onwards in the CNG and PNG segments.
• Stable Pricing: A government-backed pricing framework provides for an administered CBG price of ?2,110 per MMBTU, offering greater predictability to producers.
• Capital Assistance: Eligible greenfield CBG projects can receive assistance of up to ?2 crore per tonne per day (TPD) of installed CBG capacity. Support also covers feedstock aggregation, organic manure processing and other value-chain infrastructure. Brownfield capacity expansion is also eligible.
• Pipeline Infrastructure: The scheme supports cluster-based as well as standalone pipelines connecting CBG plants with trunk pipelines and City Gas Distribution networks.
• Credit Guarantee: A dedicated credit guarantee mechanism is intended to improve lender confidence and increase institutional credit for eligible MSME-based CBG projects.
• CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund: The fund will promote district-level implementation and strengthen local feedstock and value chains associated with CBG production.