India has made its first direct benefit transfer (DBT) payments for soil carbon credits to more than 2,500 farmers in Punjab and Haryana. The payments, totalling over ₹2.9 crore, were linked to verified carbon credits from regenerative practices such as Direct Seeded Rice, reduced tillage and crop-residue management during 2019-2022. Farmers received about ₹3,000-₹15,000 each. The Aadi farmer carbon programme was launched in 2019 by Grow Indigo with technical guidance from ICAR and covers over 2 million acres and more than 1 lakh farmers across seven states, saving an estimated 45 billion litres of water and avoiding over 2 lakh tonnes of residue burning.