Punjab's 2024 plan to the National Green Tribunal committed to managing all ~19.52 million tonnes of annual paddy-residue generation. 12.7 Mt is earmarked for on-field management (mulching, in-situ decomposition, super-seeders). 5.96 Mt is targeted for off-site industrial and energy use — the volume our pellet machines are sized to consume.
District-wise, the highest paddy-residue volumes come from Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa, Patiala, Ferozepur, Moga and Sri Muktsar Sahib. Our Sardulgarh works sits in the middle of this belt — Mansa district is paddy country, with Sangrur and Bathinda on either side.
The off-site utilisation gap is the rate-limiting step. As of 2026, total industrial off-take capacity in Punjab (across pellet plants, cofiring offtake, brick kilns, paper mills) is below the 5.96 Mt target. The market for biomass pellet plants is, in other words, structurally under-supplied at the state-policy level — which is why MNRE and Punjab government schemes have continued to incentivise new capacity.
Up to 58% of Delhi winter PM2.5 is attributed to stubble burning in Punjab and Haryana (CEEW, CPCB). Every tonne pelletised and combusted in a permitted boiler is a tonne not entering the IGP smoke column. The atmospheric case is the policy case is the commercial case.
About the author
D Sharma is the proprietor of Shri Balaji Biomass Solutions, manufacturer of the 8th-Generation Centrifugal Pellet Machine, the complete biomass pellet plant line and a 96-SKU OEM spare-parts catalogue. Based at the Sardulgarh works, Distt. Mansa, Punjab.