SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation)
Also known as: SATAT scheme · bio-CNG scheme India
SATAT is India's 2018 government scheme for bio-CNG producers, providing guaranteed offtake through Oil Marketing Companies and enabling compressed biogas to enter the vehicle fuel market.
Last updated
Beyond definitions
Planning to start a CBG business?
Get the full business understanding — capex, regulations, machinery, vendor questions, and risk checks before you commit capital.
What is SATAT?
SATAT — Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation — is the Government of India's flagship scheme for commercial-scale compressed biogas, launched on 1 October 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in partnership with the Oil Marketing Companies. It targets 5,000 CBG plants producing 15 million tonnes per annum of bio-CNG by 2030, with private investment of roughly ₹2 lakh crore. The scheme's significance is that it converted biogas in India from a rural cooking-fuel programme into a mainstream transport-fuel and grid-injection business.
SATAT works by combining three instruments. Assured offtake: any registered CBG plant gets a Letter of Intent from one of IOCL, BPCL or HPCL committing to buy its entire output for 10-15 years at the notified base price (currently around ₹54-55 per kg of CBG at 50 MJ/kg). Distribution leverage: the OMC delivers the gas through its existing CNG retail network and CGD grid injection points, so the producer does not have to build a customer-facing distribution business. Capital support overlay: SATAT registration is the gateway to MNRE's Central Financial Assistance under the National Bioenergy Programme (up to ₹4 crore per 4,800 kg-per-day plant) and to digestate-side support under PM PRANAM.
Eligibility is open — any entity with land, feedstock, technology and financing can apply, with no minimum-size cap below the practical 2 TPD floor. Lenders treat SATAT contracts as quasi-sovereign credit enhancement, supporting term debt at 65-75% of project cost at 9-11% interest. As of 2024, over 4,000 LOIs have been issued and several hundred plants are commissioned or in advanced construction.
The trade-offs are structural. SATAT solves market risk but not feedstock risk — many LOIs stall because reliable long-term feedstock contracts at predictable prices are hard to secure for 10+ years. The notified price caps upside if natural-gas spot prices spike, but also floors downside, which is decisive for bankability. The scheme depends on continued OMC purchase appetite, which is a function of CNG demand and CGD network maturity. Despite these caveats SATAT remains, for any serious CBG developer in India, the foundational policy contract on which the entire business plan rests.
Common questions about SATAT
Plain-English answers to what people most often ask.
What is the full form of SATAT?
Who buys CBG under the SATAT scheme?
Want the full picture, not just the term?
Adhāra Viveka gives you structured clarity on capital-intensive recycling and renewable-energy sectors — before you commit money or engage vendors.