GOBARdhan Scheme Guidelines: How the CBG Scheme Works, Offtake, Pricing and Facts

Context

• The Cabinet approved the scheme in August 2026; the operational guidelines notified in September 2026 spell out assured offtake by city gas distribution entities and the CBG pricing formula.
• GOBARdhan stands for Galvanising Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan: a Government of India initiative to convert cattle dung, agricultural waste, kitchen waste and other biodegradable waste into biogas, compressed biogas and organic manure.

The Scheme in Brief

• Origin: launched in 2018 under the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen), with the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, as the nodal department; its idea is waste to wealth and a circular economy.
• Now: recast as the National Circular Bioenergy Scheme under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, with an outlay of Rs 23,731 crore for 2026-27 to 2035-36 and a goal of raising CBG output nearly tenfold.
• Feedstock: crop residue, dung, press mud, municipal organic waste; output: CBG for CNG and PNG networks plus fermented organic manure.

How a GOBARdhan Plant Works

• Organic waste is fed into an anaerobic digester, where bacteria break it down without oxygen to produce biogas (about 55-65% methane) and a nutrient-rich bio-slurry.
• The biogas is either used locally for cooking and power, or purified and compressed into CBG (over 90% methane) for vehicles and gas pipelines.
• The bio-slurry is dried into fermented organic manure, which farmers use in place of part of their chemical fertiliser.
• Example: a village collects dung and crop residue, feeds a community plant, sells the gas to the local CGD network and the manure to farmers – income for the village, cleaner air and less waste.

What the Guidelines Assure

• Full offtake: city gas distribution companies must purchase the CBG produced by registered plants, ending the demand uncertainty that stalled earlier projects.
• Pricing mechanism: an administered price for CBG, revised periodically, so that plant revenues are predictable and bankable.
• Support: capital assistance, pipeline connectivity, credit guarantee and a challenge fund, as approved by the Cabinet.
• Plants register on the unified GOBARdhan portal, which tracks biogas and CBG projects across ministries.

The Wider Ecosystem

• SATAT (2018): MoPNG’s initiative for CBG plants with assured purchase by oil marketing companies.
• CBG blending obligation: 1% of CNG and PNG from 2025-26, rising towards 5% by 2028-29.
• Market Development Assistance of Rs 1,500 a tonne for fermented organic manure, and its inclusion in the fertiliser subsidy framework.
• Budget 2023-24: 500 new waste-to-wealth plants under GOBARdhan with about Rs 10,000 crore of investment.

FAQs

Who can set up a GOBARdhan plant?

Entrepreneurs, cooperatives, FPOs, sugar mills, dairies, municipal bodies and gram panchayats, at scales from a community digester to an industrial CBG plant.

How does the scheme help farmers?

It buys crop residue and dung as feedstock, supplies cheaper organic manure, and creates rural jobs in collection and plant operation.

Why are the guidelines asked in exams?

The offtake guarantee and pricing mechanism are the features that make this scheme different from SATAT; together with the outlay and ministry they are the likely questions.