With stubble burning season back, India Inc steps in to mitigate the impact on air pollution

With stubble burning season back leading to deteriorating air quality across North India, close to a dozen large companies are stepping in to mitigate the impact on air pollution and manufacturing.

Suresh Narayanan, chairman of Nestle which has one of its largest plants in Moga, Punjab, said: “Our Moga factory will start using briquettes (compressed coal) from April 2024 in biomass boilers, reducing 4% of stubble burning in the district.”

HDFC, PepsiCo, Fidelity International, Royal Enfield, SBI Cards, Cummnis, Birlasoft and IOC are among the others either setting up equipment or funding to mitigate the impact of the stubble burning.


Beverages and snacks maker PepsiCo said it has set up 'biochar kilns' which use smokeless technology, in districts in Punjab. These kilns, the maker of Pepsi cola and Lay’s chips, were set up in Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana, and are now being extended in Sangrur, Patiala and Jalandhar districts. “Our Biochar Project is a solution that has the potential to help address stubble burning. In 2023, we are actively broadening the project's reach to additional districts and are adding more and Biochar kilns,” a PepsiCo India spokesperson said. He said the company is conducting sessions for farmers to raise awareness about the issues related to stubble burning.

Last week, Punjab recorded its highest farm fires in a day, and agri experts say stubble burning could increase because of delay in harvesting on account of unseasonal rains this year.

Increasing stubble-burning incidents further deteriorates air quality index with higher presence of particulate matter in the air.

Out of an overall total of 5,254 farm fires reported so far, Amritsar was found to constitute the bulk of crop residue burning cases. Paddy harvesting is currently underway in Punjab. The state produces close to 180-200 lakh tonnes of paddy straw annually.