14 Jul 2026ECONOMY3 questions

132 Plants Against a Target of 5,000: India Mandates Biogas Before It Can Make It

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Article summary

India has made compressed biogas blending legally compulsory — 1 per cent from FY26, rising to 5 per cent by FY29 — converting what was a voluntary offtake arrangement into an obligation on city gas distribution companies. The supply side has not kept pace. The SATAT initiative launched in 2018 targeted 5,000 CBG plants by 2023; as of 3 June 2026 only 132 had been completed. Supporting measures include GOBARdhan grants of up to ₹50 lakh per district, ₹564 crore earmarked for biomass collection machinery and ₹994 crore for pipelines connecting biogas plants to the gas grid, alongside 36 medium-sized plants installed under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy's biogas programme over three years. The strategic case is straightforward: India imports the overwhelming majority of its crude oil, and about 90 per cent of its LPG imports transit the Strait of Hormuz. The risk is equally clear. India reached 20 per cent ethanol blending by December 2025, well ahead of its 2030 target, and the Economic Survey 2026 has flagged a sharp rise in maize cultivation displacing pulses, oilseeds and millets in states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka — the same substitution that produced Germany's 'corn mania' after its 2000 renewable energy law.

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recallTests whether you read the article and retained key facts.

applicationTests whether you can apply the concept to a new scenario.

analysisTests whether you can reason across multiple related facts.

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ECONOMYRecallEasy

Q1. With reference to compressed biogas (CBG) and the SATAT initiative, which one of the following statements is correct?

ASATAT was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, and its target of 5,000 CBG plants was met by 2023.

BCompressed biogas requires an entirely new distribution network at the consumer end, being chemically dissimilar to CNG.

CSATAT, launched in 2018 under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with oil marketing companies as assured offtakers, targeted 5,000 CBG plants by 2023, of which 132 were complete as of June 2026.

DThe mandatory blending obligation begins at 5 per cent in FY26 and is to be reduced to 1 per cent by FY29.

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ECONOMYApplicationMedium

Q2. Critics describe India's CBG blending mandate as inverted in its sequencing. Which one of the following best captures that argument?

AThe obligation ought to have been applied to piped natural gas for domestic use before being extended to CNG for transport.

BThe blending percentage rises too slowly between FY26 and FY29 to create a market of meaningful size.

COil marketing companies should not have been designated assured offtakers, since this distorts the price at which CBG is procured.

DA blending obligation is a demand-side instrument, but the binding constraint is supply — 132 plants against a 5,000 target — so compelling offtake before capacity exists risks non-compliance or a scramble that bids up feedstock prices without expanding the resource base.

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ECONOMYAnalysisHard

Q3. Consider the following statements regarding India's biofuel policy: 1. India reached 20 per cent ethanol blending by December 2025, ahead of its 2030 target. 2. The Economic Survey 2026 flagged maize displacing pulses, oilseeds, soybean, millets and cotton in States including Maharashtra and Karnataka. 3. Compressed biogas is produced by aerobic digestion of organic matter, followed by purification to reduce its methane content. Which of the statements given above are correct?

A1 only

B1 and 2 only

C2 and 3 only

D1, 2 and 3

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