Anant Ambani Announces ₹1 Lakh Crore CBG Investment Plan in Andhra Pradesh

Reliance Industries plans to invest ₹1 lakh crore in Andhra Pradesh to set up compressed biogas (CBG) plants across the state, Executive Director Anant Ambani said on October 2. The proposed projects are expected to create more than 3 lakh jobs and generate nearly ₹60,000 crore in revenue for the state over the coming decades, according to Ambani. These investment, employment and revenue figures are projections from Reliance and have not been independently verified.

Ambani made the announcement during the foundation-stone ceremony for the Rayalaseema Global Horticulture Hub and Indian School of Agriculture in Madanapalle, Annamayya district. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu jointly laid the foundation stones, with Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan and Ambani also present at the event.

The CBG investment is part of Reliance’s broader plans to connect agriculture with its clean-energy businesses. Ambani said farmers who contribute to India’s food security could also participate in energy production by supplying agricultural and organic waste for renewable fuel.

CBG is produced by processing organic feedstock such as agricultural residue, cattle dung and other organic waste into methane-rich gas. It can be used as a fuel in transportation and industrial and commercial applications, while the process also produces bio-slurry that can be used as organic manure. The model is intended to link waste management, rural income and domestic energy production.

The Reliance announcement comes shortly after the Union government launched the GOBARdhan Central Sector Scheme on October 1. Approved by the Union Cabinet in August, the scheme has an outlay of ₹23,731 crore and will operate from FY2026-27 to FY2035-36. It aims to increase India’s domestic CBG production nearly tenfold to around 5 million standard cubic metres per day.

The scheme brings together measures including assured CBG offtake, stable pricing, capital assistance, pipeline connectivity, credit support and ecosystem development. Eligible greenfield CBG projects can receive capital assistance of up to ₹2 crore per tonne per day of installed capacity. The government has also set an administered CBG price of ₹2,110 per MMBtu with a minimum 10-year pricing framework.

GOBARdhan also provides a demand framework through CBG blending obligations in the CNG transport and domestic PNG segments. The notified trajectory is 3% in FY2026-27, 4% in FY2027-28 and 5% from FY2028-29 onwards.

Anant Ambani outlined four areas where Reliance and its businesses could work with the school: virtual farmer training, Jio Krishi technology, high-tech animal husbandry and initiatives aimed at making agriculture a more attractive career for younger Indians. Jio is expected to work with the school to deliver training modules to farmers in Indian languages through interactive virtual classrooms in villages. Rural youth could also be trained as digitally enabled extension workers.

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The technology component could involve tools such as artificial intelligence, drones, robotics, cloud-based information and price intelligence. Ambani said drones could support crop-health mapping and more precise application of water and nutrients, while robotics could help reduce manual labour and crop losses. These are proposed applications discussed at the event rather than confirmed deployments across the state.

Reliance also said it would explore a relationship between the Indian School of Agriculture and Vantara’s proposed Global University for Wildlife and Veterinary Sciences in Jamnagar. Ambani also referred to Reliance’s existing Jio Krishi platform and the company’s bio-energy research and development centre in Jamnagar.

The Madanapalle event also marked the launch of the Rayalaseema Global Horticulture Hub, a separate government-led initiative with an estimated investment of ₹1 lakh crore. The project will be implemented in three phases across 10 districts through 201 clusters covering about 303 mandals and 5,869 villages. The state government has said ₹40,352 crore will come from government sources, while another ₹60,000 crore is expected to be mobilised from the private sector.

The horticulture programme is focused on strengthening production, processing, value addition and market access for crops including mango, banana, tomato and pomegranate. The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board said the initiative will connect production, technology, processing and global markets, while the state government has also outlined plans to expand the horticulture cultivation area.

The two ₹1 lakh crore figures therefore refer to separate initiatives. Reliance’s proposed ₹1 lakh crore investment relates to its planned CBG projects, while the other ₹1 lakh crore is the estimated overall investment for the Rayalaseema Global Horticulture Hub, which is expected to draw funding from government and private-sector sources. The horticulture hub’s entire ₹1 lakh crore outlay should not be attributed to Reliance.

Anant Ambani also said Reliance is pursuing additional clean-energy projects in Rayalaseema and exploring opportunities in advanced manufacturing. He cited Andhra Pradesh government figures showing that 388 mega projects had been approved in the state since June 2024, involving investment commitments of more than ₹14 lakh crore and the potential to create nearly 11 lakh jobs. About one-third of these investment commitments, he said, are expected to be directed towards Rayalaseema. These figures were cited by Ambani and should be treated as government-reported commitments rather than completed investments.

The CBG announcement places Reliance’s Andhra Pradesh plans alongside a broader national push to develop domestic renewable-gas production. For the company, the proposed projects could create a new link between agricultural waste, rural economic activity and its clean-energy business, while the recently launched GOBARdhan framework provides policy support intended to make India’s CBG sector more bankable and scalable.