New Delhi: The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved a Rs 37,500 crore scheme to promote surface coal and lignite gasification projects, aimed at strengthening India’s energy security and reducing dependence on imports of key products.
The scheme seeks to accelerate the country’s coal gasification programme and support the national target of gasifying 100 million tonnes of coal by 2030.
According to an official statement, the financial incentive will support new coal and lignite gasification projects for the production of syngas and downstream products. The initiative is expected to facilitate the gasification of nearly 75 million tonnes of coal and lignite.
The Centre said incentives under the scheme would be capped at 20% of the plant and machinery cost. Financial support for a single project has been capped at Rs 5,000 crore, while the limit for a single entity group across all projects has been fixed at Rs 12,000 crore.
The government also announced the extension of coal linkage tenure up to 30 years under the “Production of Syngas leading to Coal Gasification” sub-sector in the Non-Regulated Sector linkage auction framework.
The Centre said the scheme is expected to mobilise investments worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore to Rs 3 lakh crore and generate around 50,000 direct and indirect jobs across coal-bearing regions.
India currently holds around 401 billion tonnes of coal reserves and nearly 47 billion tonnes of lignite reserves. The government said coal gasification would help reduce imports of LNG, methanol, ammonia, urea, and coking coal.
In another key decision, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 Kharif crops for the 2026-27 marketing season.
The highest increase in MSP was announced for sunflower seed at Rs 622 per quintal, followed by cotton at Rs 557 per quintal, nigerseed at Rs 515 per quintal, and sesamum at Rs 500 per quintal.
Separately, the Union Cabinet also approved the extension of the lease period of the Airports Authority of India land leased to MIHAN India Limited beyond August 6, 2039.
The move will enable MIHAN India Limited to license GMR Nagpur International Airport Limited to operate Nagpur Airport for 30 years from the commercial operation date.
