GOBARdhan(Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan Yojana): 2026

Policy Update
Ravirala Lahari

Background

On 6 August 2026, the Union Cabinet approved GOBARdhan, the National Circular Bioenergy Scheme, with an outlay of ₹23,731 crore for FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36 (PIB, 2026). Under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) as Nodal agency. Its aim is a nearly ten-fold rise in domestic compressed biogas (CBG) production, large-scale private investment and a circular bioeconomy built on cattle dung, crop residue, press mud, municipal organic waste and other biomass.

The scheme is not entirely new, GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) began on 30 April 2018 under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), led by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. It was a rural sanitation and waste management measure that converted animal waste, kitchen leftovers, crop residue and market waste into biogas and bio-slurry, and it incentivised Gram Panchayats to do so. As on 27 January 2026, States and UTs reported 979 functional community/cluster biogas projects under SBM(G), alongside 189 functional CBG projects (GOBARDHAN SCHEME PIB, 2026).

Two things pushed the 2026 reset:

Fragmentation: The CBG ecosystem was split across different ministries. Developers lacked a clear answer on who would buy their gas, at what price, and which bank would lend against it.
Energy security: As of March 2026, India’s total natural gas consumption is about 189 Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day (MMSCMD), of which 97.5 MMSCMD is produced domestically but the rest is imported. India imports nearly 50% of its natural gas. And also imports about 60 percent of its LPG consumption and out of these imports about 90 percent come through the Strait of Hormuz, so disruptions there exposed the risk (India’s Crude Imports, 2026).

Together, these made GOBARdhan necessary. Scattered support, a costly import dependence and a vulnerable shipping route called for a single, assured framework. The 2026 scheme therefore brings the CBG value chain under one national framework.

Functioning

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG) administers the scheme through six components (GOBARdhan Portal | Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, n.d.) :

Assured offtake. City Gas Distribution (CGD) entities must meet a CBG obligation in CNG (Transport) and PNG (Domestic) of 3% in 2026-27, 4% in 2027-28 and 5% from 2028-29.
Stable pricing. The administered price is ₹2,110 per MMBTU, about ₹105 per kg of CBG. It has a minimum ten-year horizon and a government-supported, market-based cost-sharing mechanism.
Capital assistance. Greenfield plants get up to ₹2 crore per tonne per day (TPD) of installed capacity. This also covers feedstock aggregation and manure processing assets, and brownfield expansions are eligible.
Pipeline infrastructure. Support goes to cluster-based and standalone pipelines that link plants to trunk lines and CGD networks.
Credit guarantee. MSME-based projects get cover of up to 85% on eligible loans.
CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund. It finances district-level feedstock mapping, aggregation infrastructure, planning, technology adoption and capacity building.

Every operating or planned plant must register on the GOBARdhan Unified Registration Portal, and the registration number is required to access MoPNG support. Feedstocks include crop residue, cattle dung, press mud, municipal organic waste and other biomass. The scheme leans on digital governance and “one national framework” to cut approval friction.

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) and telemetry integration are utilized for the real-time digital monitoring of all registered Compressed Biogas (CBG) and biogas plants. The digital SCADA architecture deployed through the Official GOBARdhan Portal focuses on three critical pillars: Plant Performance: Tracking daily operational efficiency, biomass feedstock consumption, and overall anaerobic digestion performance. Gas Quality Compliance and Custody Transfer: Real-time measuring of the exact volume and mass of CBG being injected into the City Gas Distribution (CGD) pipelines or transferred to Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) (Gobhardhan Handbook, 2026).

CBG itself grew through separate schemes spread across four ministries. These were Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT), Market Development Assistance (MDA) for organic manure, Biomass Aggregation Machinery (BAM), Development of Pipeline Infrastructure (DPI) and central financial assistance under the Waste to Energy Programme. Together they produced over 200 commissioned plants but no assured buyer, price or credit line. The new scheme subsumes these five from 1 September 2026, with committed liabilities staying with the old schemes.

Performance

The scheme is weeks old, so the outputs below show the base it inherits and the targets are the outcomes it must deliver.

Outputs so far

Plants: 1,908 CBG/Bio-CNG plants are registered. Of these, 217 are commissioned (about 11%) and 339 are under construction (about 18%). The remaining 71% are still at the proposal stage (PIB Research, 6 Aug 2026).
Production: The commissioned plants make 0.4 MMSCMD, and about 57 TPD of the sector’s roughly 1,773 TPD comes from municipal waste (Bio-CNG From Municipal Solid Waste, 2025).
State spread: Of 189 functional CBG projects, Uttar Pradesh has 37, Gujarat 25, and Haryana, Karnataka and Maharashtra 20 each. These five states hold about 65%. Chhattisgarh leads in community biogas with 283 of 979 units (Biogas Plants, 2026).

Legacy schemes:

BAM (Biomass Aggregation Machinery Scheme, MoPNG): It subsidises CBG producers’ purchase of machinery to collect and aggregate biomass. 37 proposals and about ₹248 crore were approved against a ₹564.75 crore outlay (about 44%) as on 16 March 2026. It is subsumed from 1 September 2026 into Component III (Capital Assistance) (MoPNG BAM Portal, n.d.).

DPI (Development of Pipeline Infrastructure Scheme, MoPNG): It funds pipelines to carry CBG from plants to trunk lines and city gas distribution (CGD) networks. ₹56.31 crore has been sanctioned so far against an outlay of ₹994.5 crore for FY 2024-25 to FY 2028-29 (about 6%). It is subsumed into Component IV (Pipeline Infrastructure) (Gobhardhan Handbook, 2026).

MDA (Market Development Assistance Scheme, Department of Fertilizers): It pays ₹1,500 per tonne for fermented organic manure (FOM), liquid FOM and phosphate-rich organic manure from CBG and GOBARdhan plants. ₹111.72 crore released up to 28 Feb 2026, with 120 plants on the fertiliser portal and 44 MoUs signed. now sits inside the administered price (Component II) (Gobhardhan Handbook, 2026).

Targeted outcomes

Foreign exchange savings: Over ₹40,000 crore expected to be saved by reducing dependence on imported natural gas.
Fossil fuel displacement: About 10 million metric tonnes (MMT) of fossil fuel consumption to be replaced by domestic CBG.
Economic contribution: More than ₹75,000 crore to be added to national GDP.
Employment: Over 1.5 lakh jobs expected across feedstock collection, logistics, plant operations and the sale of organic manure.
Emissions reduction: More than 40 million tonnes (MT) of CO₂ emissions to be cut by diverting organic waste and crop residue from landfills and field burning and by replacing fossil fuel.
Organic manure output: 250 MMT of fermented organic manure (FOM/LFOM) to be produced, supporting soil health and reducing reliance on chemical fertilisers (GOBARdhan: Fuelling Clean Energy and Rural Growth, 2026).

Impact

The official portal sets out the benefits of GOBARdhan under these heads:

Circular economy and waste management: Agricultural residue, dung, press mud and organic waste become fuel and manure instead of being burnt or dumped. The Challenge Fund rewards districts for feedstock mapping, aggregation and campaigns against parali burning.
Environment and sustainability: The scheme cuts greenhouse gas emissions and protects health and the environment. Over a decade it is expected to cut more than 40 MT of CO₂ by replacing fossil fuel and diverting waste from landfills.
Synergy with Net-Zero 2070: Serves as a primary driver to meet India’s Panchamrit climate targets by decarbonizing freight transport and domestic cooking gas.
Clean energy and energy security: CBG is chemically equivalent to natural gas and can use existing CGD networks. Domestic production saves foreign exchange and displaces 10 MMT of fossil fuel.
Farmers’ income and rural livelihoods: Farmers gain a market for residue and dung, plus access to FOM and LFOM. The scheme is expected to generate over 1.5 lakh jobs. It also widens entry for MSMEs, cooperatives, women entrepreneurs and first-time developers through the credit guarantee and capital assistance.
Organic manure economy: MDA of ₹1,500 per tonne continues in effect through the manure offtake mandate. The administered price includes an incentive for selling by-products, and producers are responsible for selling them.
Investor confidence: Long-term visibility on demand, price and credit improves bankability.

Challenges and Issues

1. Rural feedstock is scattered and seasonal
Cattle ownership is decentralised, so dung and crop residue do not arrive in a steady flow, and monsoon moisture disrupts collection and processing. Many plants depend on a single feedstock, and weak local-level data hampers plant siting and procurement.

2. Urban waste is the weakest link
Cities could yield about 2,523 tonnes per day(TPD) of Bio-CNG from wet waste, but only about 2.26% is realised. Segregation is just 30-35% against the 90% plants needed, and the scheme leaves open who pays for collection. Plants with 50% or more municipal or sewage feedstock are also excluded from capital assistance and credit guarantee, so city projects have to look to MoHUA schemes (GOBARdhan Has the Money. Are India’s Cities Ready to Use It?, 2026).

3. Capital, land and clearances remain heavy
Plants cost ₹6–7 crore per TPD, so the ₹2 crore per TPD assistance covers only about 29–33%, and it is capped at ₹30 crore per project. Land and clearances are cumbersome, and mandatory SCADA, gas analysers and bank guarantees add compliance cost for small developers (CBG Ecosystem PIB, 2026).

4. Offtake, pipelines and by-products are not yet proven
Only about 6% of the legacy pipeline (DPI) outlay has been sanctioned, and take-or-pay and supply-or-pay obligations start only from year 2. The manure market depends on enforcing the Fertilizer Marketing Company mandate (20% rising to 50%), and unsold manure cuts margins.

5. Institutions and awareness are fragmented
MoPNG runs the scheme, but segregation and collection sit with MoHUA, the states and about 4,000 urban local bodies. The transition of 979 community biogas units under Jal Shakti is unspecified, and farmers often lack awareness of returns and operations.

6. Spread and fiscal clarity are uneven
Five states hold about 65% of functional CBG projects, and over 70% of registered plants are still at the proposal stage. Many states and UTs have no functional CBG plants, including Kerala, Assam and Himachal Pradesh. Pipeline funding has been slow, with under 6% of the DPI outlay sanctioned. ₹250 crore of the ₹23,731 crore outlay is not itemised, the cost of the ₹2,110 price support is undisclosed, and support for Components III-VI runs only till FY 2030-31 (Biogas Plants, 2026).

Way Forward

Ring-fence a share of the outlay for municipal organic waste: Build Challenge Fund district plans on city-wise wet waste and segregation data, and not on crop-residue mapping alone. Use the Challenge Fund to seed aggregation hubs in states with no CBG plants, and speed up DPI sanctions to fix regional gaps.
Make municipal feedstock guarantees a sanctioning condition: For city projects, require written commitments on assured tonnage, quality and municipal collection, as Maharashtra has done. Indore’s sequence is the model: secure the segregated waste first, then build the plant.
Move PPPs to outcome-based terms: Do waste characterisation studies before sizing plants.
Create a joint MoPNG-MoHUA-Jal Shakti mechanism: Align the SWM Rules, SBM-Urban and the GOBARdhan portal, and clarify how existing SBM(G) biogas assets transition.
Publish a public dashboard: Track production against the 3%/4%/5% obligation, capital assistance disbursed, plant utilisation rates and manure sold, and use NITI Aayog’s evaluation to calibrate the targets.
Strengthen the digestate market: Link MDA payments to verified manure sales so that plants earn from the by-product as well as the gas.

GOBARdhan 2026 fixes the money side of CBG with demand, price and credit. Whether it works depends on feedstock, especially municipal waste, where the data show how far India still has to go.

References

GOBARdhan: Fuelling clean energy and rural growth. (2026). In Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG), GOBARdhan: Turning Waste Into the Engine of India’s Growth. https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2026/aug/doc202686946301.pdf
GOBARdhan Portal | Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. (n.d.-b). GOBARdhan Portal. https://gobardhan.gov.in/latest-updates
GOBARdhan Portal | Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas. (n.d.-c). GOBARdhan Portal. https://gobardhan.gov.in/about/scheme
GOBARDHAN SCHEME. (n.d.). https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2222150®=3&lang=1
Home | GOBARdhan Unified Registration Portal. (n.d.). https://gobardhan.sbm.gov.in/
Inter-Ministerial Briefing held on Recent Developments in West Asia. (n.d.). https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2238525®=48&lang=2
Kaifee Jawed. (2026, August 31). GOBARdhan has the money. Are India’s cities ready to use it? Down to Earth. https://www.downtoearth.org.in/waste/gobardhan-has-the-money-are-indias-cities-ready-to-use-it
MoPNG BAM Portal. (n.d.). https://bam.eil.co.in/Default
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri launches GOBARdhan Scheme to accelerate development of India’s Compressed Biogas sector. (n.d.). https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleaseDetail.aspx?PRID=2317937®=48&lang=1
Bio-CNG from Municipal Solid Waste. (2025, June 18). Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). https://www.cseindia.org/bio-cng-from-municipal-solid-waste-12754

About the Contributor

Lahari is a Public Administration and Governance postgraduate from the Central University of Karnataka, with a keen interest in Urban Governance, Public Policy, and Sustainable Development. Committed to making governance more inclusive, sustainable and having a tangible impact on citizens’ lives.

Reviewed by

Karnavi and Aditi

Acknowledgement

I am writing to express my sincere gratitude to IMPRI (Impact and Policy Research Institute) for providing me with the opportunity to prepare this policy update article and for fostering a rigorous learning environment that connects research with public policy practice.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or positions of IMPRI (Impact and Policy Research Institute) or any other affiliated organisation.