New Delhi: The Centre is ready to launch the Sampoorn Gobardhan Scheme on August 10, coinciding with World Biofuel Day, to accelerate compressed biogas (CBG) production by offering higher assured procurement prices and enhanced capital subsidies for new projects, senior government officials said, The Economic Times reported.
The proposal is expected to be cleared by the Union Cabinet at its next meeting. The new scheme aims to address implementation challenges faced under the Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT) programme, launched in 2018, which has fallen well short of its target.
According to official data, only 219 CBG plants are currently operational against the target of 5,000 under SATAT, despite more than 1,094 Letters of Intent (LoIs) having been issued. Officials said the new policy framework is intended to improve project viability and speed up investments in the sector.
The government expects the revised incentives to facilitate the establishment of another 600-700 CBG plants over the next year. Officials said higher procurement prices, coupled with increased capital subsidies, would improve investor confidence and help overcome financial and operational hurdles.
The move comes as the Compressed Biogas Blending Obligation (CBGO) has become a legal requirement. Under the mandate, city gas distribution companies are required to blend CBG with compressed natural gas (CNG) and piped natural gas (PNG). Officials said the current pace of capacity addition is insufficient to meet the progressively increasing blending targets over the coming years.
The mandatory blending requirement has been raised to 3% in 2026-27 from 1% in 2025-26. It will increase to 4% in 2027-28 and 5% from 2028-29 onwards. Although the obligation was introduced on a voluntary basis, it became mandatory from April 2025. Compliance is monitored by the Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC), with city gas distributors and oil marketing companies required to submit quarterly reports.
India’s CNG and domestic PNG segments consume around 34-35 million metric standard cubic metres of gas per day (MMSCMD). A 1% blending mandate requires approximately 0.35 MMSCMD of CBG, equivalent to an annual demand of 2.6-3 lakh tonnes. Officials said current CBG sales have reached 0.63-0.66 MMSCMD, equivalent to nearly 2% blending.
The CBG sector has attracted significant investments from both private and public sector companies. Reliance Industries has announced plans to invest ₹1.4 lakh crore in the sector, including ₹65,000 crore for 500 CBG plants in Andhra Pradesh and ₹75,000 crore for 350 plants in the Northeast, with a target of establishing 500 plants across the country by 2030.
Adani TotalEnergies is developing five CBG plants, including a 600-tonne-per-day facility in Uttar Pradesh, while Suzuki Motor Corporation plans to set up at least five cow dung-based biogas plants in Gujarat.
Officials said the Sampoorn Gobardhan Scheme has been designed to address key challenges facing the sector, particularly feedstock availability, assured offtake and project viability.
“Unless developers have assured offtake and viable prices, capacity addition will remain slow. The framework is designed to address that,” a senior government official said.
