The Chhattisgarh Compressed Biogas (CG-CBG) Policy 2026 was notified in the state gazette on July 10, 2026. It lays out a plan to turn farm waste, cattle dung, city garbage and factory by-products into compressed biogas (a clean fuel), cut pollution and give farmers and rural workers a new source of income. The policy will run through March 31, 2030 and cover new projects as well as plants already running before it was notified.
"The CG-CBG policy, 2026 has been formulated to provide a clear, transparent and enabling framework for CBG projects in Chhattisgarh. It seeks to create a robust ecosystem through targeted interventions across the value chain, including feedstock supply, infrastructure development, regulatory facilitation, market integration and institutional coordination," said Sumit Sarkar, Chief Executive Officer, Chhattisgarh Biofuel Development Authority (CBDA). "The policy would encourage Innovation and provide thrust to R&D in CBG sector."
As of July 2026, India has 1,862 registered CBG projects spread across 249 districts. But only 211 of these are actually running. Another 336 are being built and 1,315 have not even started work.
Chhattisgarh has the same problem on a smaller scale. Out of 36 registered CBG projects in the state, only three are working, three more are being built and 30 have not started yet. The new policy hopes to speed things up by making approvals and permissions easier, attracting more private investment, and putting farm and city waste to better use.
CSE’s report Fuelling the Biofuel Future: Review of State-Level Bioenergy Policies in India assessed state-level bioenergy policies, including those of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, and outlined what CBG / bioenergy policies are expected to cover.
Chhattisgarh's previous industrial development policy already addressed several CBG-related aspects that were carried into its dedicated CBG policy. For capital assistance, it follows the Industrial Development Policy 2024-2030: New (and expanding) CBG plants can get up to 100 per cent of fixed capital investment as support, choosing either Net State GST reimbursement for up to 12 years, or a Fixed Capital Investment Subsidy of 30 per cent of plant and machinery investment over six years. There is also provision for an additional Interest subsidy covering 50 per cent of interest or 6 per cent (whichever is lower) for 5 years, capped at Rs 20 crore per year.
Take the supply of raw material, or feedstock, first. CSE's national blueprint report mentioned that plants across the country run below capacity mainly because they cannot get a steady supply of waste to convert into gas. Chhattisgarh's answer is to treat every district as a fixed catchment area for feedstock. If needed, the local collector can extend this to nearby tehsils. To stop plants from over-using the waste available in an area, the policy also caps how much biogas capacity can be registered in a district at 80 percent of what that district can actually supply. This will ensure feedstock security for the plants.
The policy also brings in different stakeholders to help secure this supply. The agriculture department will set up at least one farmer group in every catchment area to collect and store biomass. Grain markets, sugar mills and the animal husbandry department are all expected to sign long-term supply deals with CBG plants, and farm waste bought through grain markets will not attract the usual mandi fee. This matches what CSE had suggested — long, secure contracts between waste suppliers and plant owners so both sides know what to expect.
One specific gap CSE had pointed out in its review of Madhya Pradesh's scheme was that nobody had clearly said what role city and town bodies should play in supplying garbage to CBG plants. Chhattisgarh closes this gap directly. The Chhattisgarh Biofuel Development Authority, the body in charge of running this policy, will help set up 25-year agreements between urban local bodies and CBG plant owners for the supply of sorted city waste.
The policy also wants to build demand for CBG itself. It plans to help convert public buses and government vehicles to run on CNG, and wants schools and private transport operators to switch too. Approvals for CNG kits and new fuel stations are meant to be given faster so the CBG being produced actually finds buyers.
The policy also pays attention to what happens after the gas is made. CBG plants also produce organic manure as a by-product, and CSE's Maharashtra report had flagged that fertiliser companies were left out of this part of the chain. Chhattisgarh's policy now says this manure will be sold through existing fertiliser shops and farm supply networks. It also plans to make farmers aware of the benefits of this manure, something CSE had asked for repeatedly across states, by asking farm and forest departments to use it in their own soil health work.
The CSE report had highlighted that the nodal agency needs to be strengthened through better coordination among different state-level departments. Chhattisgarh's new policy closely follows this approach. A high-level committee led by the energy secretary will oversee the programme, while district committees led by collectors will handle land, pricing and coordination between farmers and plant owners.
There is also a two-step system for handling complaints, one at the district level and another at the state level, addressing the gap the CSE report had identified regarding the need for a point-person for entrepreneurs. Plants will also send in regular data on waste used, CBG made, and manure output, fixing a problem CSE had raised, that nobody could see how well plants were actually performing.
The same authority is also named the state's research body for the sector, tasked with improving plant efficiency and testing new feedstock. Plans to train workers through technical institutes and colleges also fix a shortage of skilled staff that CSE had noticed in different state.
The new policy, however, doesn't have the mandate for CGD companies to buy a fixed share of CBG, separate mission for improving soil health, or plan to give farmers a stake in the plants themselves, which were measures proposed in the CSE report. Land banks, too, are handled only through general industrial rules, not a dedicated system built for biogas, unlike what Gujarat has tried.
Even with these gaps, Chhattisgarh's policy is one of the more complete attempts by any state to fix the real problems that have kept India's CBG sector from growing. By planning out feedstock properly, giving cities a clear role, building demand through transport use, setting up a way to handle complaints, tracking performance and pushing local research, the state has taken on board much of what CSE has been recommending for a while. We expect strong implementation plan at state level will ensure upscaling of CBG sector in Chhattisgarh.
"The CG-CBG Policy, 2026 utilises a decentralised, district-based catchment framework to secure a reliable, year-round organic feedstock supply. Its implementation will be driven through a time-bound digital Single Window Mechanism and robust inter-departmental coordination via District as well as State Level Committees to accelerate waste-to-wealth project delivery," said Lav Tyagi, Assistant Project Officer (CBG), CBDA.