GOBARdhan Explained: What the ₹23,731 Crore Compressed Biogas Scheme Offers a CBG Plant Developer

The Union Cabinet approved GOBARdhan, India's national scheme for compressed biogas (CBG), on 06 August 2026, with a total outlay of ₹23,731 crore. It runs for ten years, from FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36, and it is back in the news this month as the sector looks at what the scheme actually offers.

If you are thinking about setting up a CBG plant, or you run an agri, waste or bioenergy business that could feed one, this is the scheme to understand. It is not a single grant. It is a package of six supports that together try to make a CBG plant easier to finance and easier to sell from.

What GOBARdhan is

GOBARdhan stands for Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan. It first started in 2018 under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) as a village waste-management programme that turned cattle dung, kitchen leftovers, crop residue and market waste into biogas and bio-slurry.

According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the CBG ecosystem used to be spread across four ministries. It has now been brought under one roof:

• Nodal ministry: Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)
• Period: FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36
• Outlay: ₹23,731 crore
• Aim: nearly ten-fold growth in domestic CBG production, more private investment and a circular bioeconomy

The government's stated reason is energy security. PIB says India imports nearly 50 per cent of its natural gas, and CBG is chemically equivalent to natural gas, so it can go into the existing gas network.

The six components

1. Assured offtake

City Gas Distribution (CGD) companies will have to buy CBG to meet a notified obligation in the CNG (transport) and PNG (domestic) segments:

• 3% in FY 2026-27
• 4% in FY 2027-28
• 5% from FY 2028-29 onwards

For a plant owner, this is the most important piece. It means there is a defined buyer base, which is what lenders want to see.

2. A stable price

PIB says the scheme sets a government-backed administered price of ₹2,110 per MMBTU, equivalent to ₹105 per kilogram of CBG, with a minimum ten-year horizon. Power Line reports this is up from ₹1,478 per MMBTU under the earlier policy.

3. Capital assistance

Eligible greenfield CBG projects get capital assistance of up to ₹2 crore per ton per day (TPD) of installed CBG capacity. The support is not limited to plant machinery. It also covers assets for feedstock aggregation, organic manure processing and value addition. Brownfield projects that expand capacity are also eligible.

PIB names private developers, MSMEs, cooperatives and rural entrepreneurs as the groups this is meant to bring in. "Up to" is a ceiling, not a fixed amount. This is the Cabinet-stage figure; the final rate and any per-project cap are set in the operational guidelines, so confirm them there.

4. Pipeline connectivity

Support for both cluster-based and standalone pipelines that connect CBG plants to trunk pipelines and city gas networks. Getting gas out of a rural plant is a real cost, and this is meant to bring it down.

5. Credit guarantee

A dedicated Credit Guarantee Mechanism will cover up to 85 per cent of eligible loans for eligible MSME-based CBG projects. PIB says the aim is to reduce collateral requirements and widen participation by MSMEs, women entrepreneurs and first-time developers. Our sources do not give the fund size or any guarantee fee.

6. CBG Ecosystem Challenge Fund

A fund for district-level work, including:

• Feedstock resource assessment and mapping
• Feedstock aggregation infrastructure
• District-level CBG development planning
• Technology adoption and process improvement
• Value addition of organic manure
• Capacity building and stakeholder awareness

Our sources do not give the size of this fund or how anyone applies to it.

What the government expects over the decade

These are PIB's projections, not guarantees:

• Over ₹40,000 crore saved in forex
• 10 MMT of fossil fuel use displaced
• More than ₹75,000 crore added to GDP
• Over 1.5 lakh jobs across the value chain
• More than 40 MT of CO₂ emissions cut
• 250 MMT of organic fertilizer produced

PIB also says that, as on 06 August 2026, 1,908 CBG/Bio-CNG plants were registered on the GOBARdhan Unified Registration Portal, and 217 had been commissioned.

What our sources do not say

The sources we reviewed do not give:

• An application process, application portal or deadline for the capital assistance, credit guarantee or challenge fund
• Detailed eligibility criteria, including what makes a project "eligible"
• The size of the credit guarantee fund or the challenge fund
• How the ₹23,731 crore is split across the six components

Check the scheme's operational guidelines from the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas before you build a plan around any of them.

One thing PIB does state: anyone operating or planning a CBG/Bio-CNG plant can get a registration number through the GOBARdhan Unified Registration Portal, and that number is required to get benefits and support from MoPNG.

What this means for you

• Planning a plant? Get your registration number first. PIB says it is the gate to MoPNG support.
• Building your financial model? You now have a price (₹2,110 per MMBTU), a demand floor (the 3% to 5% obligation) and a capital assistance ceiling (up to ₹2 crore per TPD). Use them as planning inputs, not as promised amounts.
• An MSME, woman entrepreneur or first-time developer? The credit guarantee is aimed at you. Talk to your bank early, but check the guarantee rules before counting on it.
• An agri or waste startup? You may not need to own a plant. Feedstock aggregation, transport and organic manure are all named parts of the value chain.
• Read the operational guidelines. The eligibility test and the way to apply are set there, not in the Cabinet announcement.

Sources: Press Information Bureau backgrounder on GOBARdhan; Power Line; Autocar Professional; DD News.

Cover photo: Harshal on Unsplash