India, Oct. 3 -- The Rs 23,731-crore GOBARdhan scheme aims to drive a 10-fold increase in compressed biogas (CBG) production, save more than Rs 40,000 crore in fuel imports, add over Rs 75,000 crore to GDP and create more than 1.5 lakh jobs, as the government seeks to turn agricultural and organic waste into a new source of domestic energy.

Speaking at the formal launch of the scheme, Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the scheme provides capital assistance, as well as guaranteed offtake of the renewable fuel produced by processing organic waste such as agricultural residue, animal dung, food waste and other biomass.

Capital support plus guaranteed offtake is likely to lift CBG (essentially methane-rich gas) from current 0.4 million s...