Centre launches GOBARdhan Scheme to accelerate development of India’s CBG sector

Why in News?

The Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, launched GOBARdhan, a Central Sector Scheme for the development of the Compressed Biogas (CBG) sector, on 1 October 2026. Approved by the Union Cabinet on 6 August 2026, the scheme has an outlay of ₹23,731 crore and provides a ten-year framework from FY 2026–27 to FY 2035–36. It aims to increase domestic CBG production nearly ten-fold to around 5 MMSCMD.

About GOBARdhan Scheme

The scheme seeks to provide a stable policy and investment framework for expanding CBG production by converting crop residue, cattle dung and other organic waste into clean domestic energy, while also producing organic manure and creating rural economic opportunities. Farmers, cooperatives, gaushalas and local enterprises can participate in feedstock collection, aggregation, transportation and processing, strengthening the link between agriculture and energy.

GOBARdhan comprises six key interventions: CBG Offtake Assurance, CBG Pricing Framework, Capital Assistance for CBG Projects, Development of Pipeline Infrastructure, Credit Guarantee Support and the CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund.

Under the CBG Obligation (CBO), City Gas Distribution entities are required to procure CBG for the CNG (Transport) and PNG (Domestic) segments. The obligation is 3% in FY 2026–27, 4% in FY 2027–28 and 5% from FY 2028–29 onwards. The scheme also introduces an administered CBG price of ₹2,110 per MMBtu to provide greater revenue visibility to producers.

Eligible greenfield projects can receive capital assistance of up to ₹2 crore per tonne per day (TPD) of installed CBG capacity. To address gas evacuation constraints, support of up to 80% of eligible capital expenditure is available for pipelines connecting CBG clusters to trunk pipeline networks, while standalone plants connecting to CGD networks can receive support of up to 50%.

Source: PIB

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