India’s national strategy to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2030 is gaining momentum, backed by large investments and industry collaborations, despite cost hurdles and slow capacity ramp-up.
Green hydrogen has moved from a climate concept to an industrial policy bet in India, where the government is trying to use abundant sunshine and wind to cut emissions in sectors that are difficult to electrify directly. Refineries, fertiliser plants, steel mills and shipping are among the industries being targeted, with the wider aim of reducing reliance on imported fossil fuels and building a domestic clean-fuels economy, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and mission briefings from related industry trackers.
The fuel is made by using renewable electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which means the production process itself can be close to emissions-free if the power source is genuinely clean. In practice, the economics depend on three things: low-cost renewable electricity, enough electrolyser capacity to make the fuel, and a customer willing to sign a long-term contract. That has made green hydrogen less a stand-alone product than a chain of linked investments across power generation, manufacturing and heavy industry.
India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, launched in January 2023, is the centrepiece of that strategy. The programme has an initial outlay of Rs19,744 crore and seeks to build at least 5 million tonnes a year of production capacity by 2030, while also encouraging electrolyser manufacturing, pilot projects and hydrogen hubs. Government materials say the plan could attract more than Rs8 lakh crore in investment and support large-scale renewable build-out alongside the hydrogen sector.
The challenge is that capacity and offtake are still moving at different speeds. Business outreach reports that India had commissioned about 8,000 tonnes of green hydrogen capacity by February 2026, far short of the 2030 goal, even though project announcements are far larger. Envisioning said 19 companies had been assigned a combined 862,000 tonnes a year by May 2025, underlining how much of the pipeline is still at the allocation stage rather than in operation.
Several large groups are trying to close that gap. Reliance Industries, Adani New Industries, JSW Energy, NTPC, Indian Oil Corporation, Larsen & Toubro and ACME Group are among the names linked with projects spanning renewable power, electrolysers, green ammonia and industrial use. JSW Energy’s plant at Vijayanagar in Karnataka is described as the country’s largest operating facility, supplying about 3,800 tonnes a year to JSW Steel, and illustrating the advantage of having producer and buyer within the same corporate group.
Even so, cost remains the biggest brake on wider adoption. The business case is still weaker than for grey hydrogen, which is made from fossil fuels and remains cheaper today. Supporters argue that India’s low-cost solar and wind resources, combined with future carbon pricing and export demand from markets such as Europe and Japan, could improve the economics over time. For now, green hydrogen in India is progressing, but slowly, with policy ambition still running ahead of commercial reality.
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