Sugarcane Crop Promotion and Infra/Research facilities boost by Punjab Govt

Updated: 10/3/2026
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Last Updated: 3 October 2026

Nov 2025: Sugarcane price hiked to ₹416 per quintal for the 2025-26 crushing season, the highest in the country; new cooperative sugar mill at Dinanagar (Gurdaspur) with 5,000 TCD capacity & 28.5 MW co-generation plant inaugurated[1]

Sept 2026: 5 cooperative sugar mills (incl. Batala, Fazilka, Budhewal) won national awards at National Cooperative Sugar Industry Conclave-2026[2]
-- Batala: 2nd in Financial Management; Fazilka & Budhewal: 2nd in Cane Development; Nakodar: 2nd & Bhogpur: 3rd in Technical Efficiency

2025-26 crushing season: Cooperative mills procured a record 167.20 lakh quintals and paid ₹695.36 crore i.e. 100% dues cleared[3]
-- ₹68.50 per quintal state subsidy (highest in country) paid directly to farmers for cane sold to private mills (approved Jan 2026)[4]
-- 2026-27: Area under sugarcane up to 1.16 lakh hectares from 1.12 lakh hectares in 2025-26; ~700 lakh quintal output targeted[5]

Initiatives for Sugarcane crop

-- Highest Pricing: Highest sugarcane prices in India - ₹416/quintal for 2025-26 season[6] (₹401 in 2024-25[7])
-- Timely Payments: 100% dues cleared by cooperative mills; state subsidy support for private mill cane
-- Sugar Mills expansion & Modernisation

IMPACT of AAP Govt:

-- For first time, all Govt's dues of sugarcane farmers cleared by Punjab Govt as of 08 Sept 2022[8] and continues for FY 2023-24[9]
-- Area under sugarcane up from 95,000 hectares (2023) to 1 lakh hectares (2024)[10] → 1.12 lakh ha (2025-26) → 1.16 lakh ha (2026-27)[5:1]

Sugarcane crop in sub tropical states (U.P., Punjab, Haryana, Bihar etc.) takes generally one year to mature and planting seasons are September to October (Autumn) and February to March (Spring)

1. Issues & Solutions by AAP Govt

The farmers of the state eagerly want to adopt sugarcane crop under crop diversification, but they are hesitant for it due to lack of adequate price and timely payment of the crop - CM Mann[11]

1. Better pricing
State Agreed Price needs to be increased to make it an attractive alternative

IMPACT of AAP Govt: Highest sugarcane prices in India:

26 Nov 2025: Punjab govt raises price to country's Highest at Rs 416 per quintal[6:1]
25 Nov 2024: Punjab govt maintains country's Highest sugarcane price at Rs 401 per quintal[12]
1 Dec 2023: Punjab govt notifies country's Highest sugarcane price at Rs 391 per quintal[13]
11 Nov 2022: Punjab govt notifies country's Highest sugarcane price at Rs 380 per quintal[14]

2. Pending Payment dues- Both from Government & Private Mills

₹295.60 crores was the total pending arrears from Congress Govt for season 2021-22 for over 1 year[15]

  • Similarly some Private mills have not been paying on time[15:1]

Work In Progress

-- Two private sugar mills have not paid the dues yet as owners of these mills have fled from the country
-- State government has already initiated the process to confiscate their assets to pay the pending dues of the farmers[11:1]

Private mills dues: Phagwara mill

  • Sept 2023: Vigilance Bureau arrested the owners of Wahid Sandhar Sugars, Phagwara for not paying ₹40.72 crore to 600+ farmers over 4 years[16]
  • The mill restarted under new management; Govt withheld its crushing licence (Dec 2025) until the remaining ₹27.74 crore of 2021-22 dues are paid[17]
  • 2025-26: Private mills had paid ~₹1,000 crore, with ~₹250 crore pending at end of season (May 2026)[18]

2. Infra Modernization & Expansion

  • Batala Cooperative Sugar Mills[19]:

    • Inaugurated 6 Dec 2024[20]: Sugar capacity increased to 3500 TCD from previous capacity of 1500 TCD[21]
    • 14 MW power Co-generation plant
    • Estimated project cost of Rs. 296 crores
    • New Bio CNG Project capacity 100 TPT being set up on BOT basis at a cost of Rs 40 crore

  • Gurdaspur Cooperative Sugar Mill[19:1]:

    • Enhancing the existing capacity from 2000 TCD to 5000 TCD at a cost of Rs 402 crore
    • Along with an ethanol plant of 120 KLPD capacity
    • 28 MW power co-generation project
    • Inaugurated 26 Nov 2025: 5,000 TCD with 28.5 MW co-generation; launched 'Fateh Sugar' brand[6:2]

3. Upcoming Research Facility & College

  • Guru Nanak Dev Sugar Cane Research & Development Institute, Kalanaur[22]

    • Being set up on 100 acres of land
    • On lines of Vasantdada Sugarcane Institute (Pune), considered to be Asia’s premier research station
    • AAP Punjab Government transfered the assets and manpower of GNSRDI to Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) from SugarFed

  • Agriculture College, Kalanaur [23]

    • Will come up at a cost of Rs 22 crore
    • Bhagwant Singh Mann and Arvind Kejriwal laid the foundation stone

4. Sugar Mills[24]

Total 1.80 lac farmers' families are connected with the sugar mills in Punjab

Presently there are 15 sugar mills operational in Punjab

  • 9 Co-operative Mills
    -- 9 operational with crushing capacity of 17750 TCD
    -- 3 closed at Patiala, Tarntaran and Zira
  • 6 Private Mills[10:1]

Crushing 2024[10:2]

  • ~210 lakh quintals to be crushed by Co-operative Mills
  • ~500 lakh quintal cane is expected to be crushed by the 6 private sugar mills

Punjab Mills Capacity vs Crop cultivation

Sugar Mills Capacity Sugarcane Crop in Punjab
2.50 lakh hectares(Oct 2022)[11:2] 1,16,131 hectares (2026-27)[5:2]; 94,558 hectares (2024-25)[25]

References:

  1. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=214058 (Punjab Govt Press Release, 26 Nov 2025) ↩︎

  2. https://yespunjab.com/punjabs-five-cooperative-sugar-mills-win-national-awards-for-financial-management-cane-development-technical-efficiency/ (Punjab Govt Press Release, 22 Sept 2026) ↩︎

  3. https://yespunjab.com/punjab-clears-100-sugarcane-dues-for-first-time-bhagwant-mann-govt-pays-₹695-36-crore-to-farmers-during-2025-26-crushing-season/ (Punjab Govt Press Release, 1 June 2026) ↩︎

  4. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-cabinet-okays-rs-68-5-quintal-sugarcane-subsidy-highest-in-the-country/ ↩︎

  5. https://yespunjab.com/punjab-sugarcane-acreage-rises-to-1-16-lakh-hectares-government-targets-700-lakh-quintal-output/ (Punjab Govt Press Release, 13 Sept 2026) ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  6. https://www.rozanaspokesman.com/news/punjab/271125/punjab-raises-sugarcane-price-to-inr-416quintal-cm-mann-inaugurates.html ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  7. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/cane-sap-up-10-growers-to-get-highest-rate-in-country/ ↩︎

  8. https://www.punjabnewsexpress.com/punjab/news/bhagwant-mann-fulfils-another-promise-with-farmers-clears-all-the-pending-due-to-sugarcane-cultivators-181063 ↩︎

  9. https://finance.punjab.gov.in/uploads/26Mar2025/2e99440b-e9e9-444f-8730-911f6aa6ecd2_20250326133710.pdf (page 24) ↩︎

  10. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-govt-likely-to-increase-cane-sap-by-10-per-quintal/ ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  11. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/punjab-cm-bhagwant-mann-announces-hike-in-sugarcane-price-to-rs-380-per-quintal/articleshow/94625855.cms ↩︎ ↩︎ ↩︎

  12. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/punjab-hikes-cane-price-by-10-per-quintal-101732561813070.html ↩︎

  13. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/punjab-announces-rs-11-per-quintal-hike-of-sugarcane-sap-cm-mann-calls-it-shagun-567699 ↩︎

  14. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/punjab-govt-notifies-sugarcane-price-hike/articleshow/95459093.cms ↩︎

  15. https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/chandigarh-news/punjab-releases-rs-100-crore-for-cane-farmers-101660343103903.html ↩︎ ↩︎

  16. https://yespunjab.com/phagwaras-wahid-sandhar-sugar-mills-deceived-over-600-farmers-failed-to-settle-rs-40-cr-unpaid-dues/ (Punjab Govt Press Release, 30 Sept 2023) ↩︎

  17. https://www.chinimandi.com/punjab-government-withholds-phagwara-sugar-mills-crushing-licence-over-unpaid-farmer-dues/ ↩︎

  18. https://www.chinimandi.com/punjab-cane-growers-await-nearly-rs-250-crore-in-pending-payments-after-crushing-season-ends/ ↩︎

  19. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=175358 ↩︎ ↩︎

  20. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=195838 ↩︎

  21. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=191511 ↩︎

  22. https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/punjab/govt-breathes-life-into-kalanaur-sugarcane-research-institute-522778 ↩︎

  23. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=175358 ↩︎

  24. https://www.babushahi.com/full-news.php?id=191843 ↩︎

  25. https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/chandigarh/paddy-planting-blow-punjab-diversification-9490295/ ↩︎

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