India has signed 23 binding offtake contracts, more than 70% of the contracted volume destined for export. The deals could require over ₹90,000 crore in investment as Japan, South Korea and Europe line up for supply.
Indian companies have assembled the world’s largest known portfolio of binding green hydrogen supply commitments, with agreements in place for 5,55,610 metric tonnes a year of hydrogen-equivalent volumes by October 2026, according to a Ministry of New and Renewable Energy release. The government said 23 offtake contracts had been signed, and that 18 of them were concluded this year alone, underscoring how quickly the market has moved from policy ambition to commercial delivery.
The headline number matters because green hydrogen projects are expensive to build and difficult to finance without locked-in buyers. Government data show that more than 70% of the contracted volume is intended for export, and that fulfilling the agreements will require investment of more than ₹90,000 crore. In practice, most of these deals are for green ammonia or green methanol rather than hydrogen gas itself, since those derivatives are easier to transport in existing shipping infrastructure.
Japan has emerged as the main destination for Indian supply. The government lists major contracts involving ACME Group, IHI Corporation, Mitsubishi Gas Chemical, Larsen & Toubro and ITOCHU, while company announcements add detail: L&T said its energy unit will supply 300,000 tonnes of green ammonia a year to ITOCHU on a long-term take-or-pay basis, and ACME said it is advancing a green-ammonia project with IHI in Odisha. The ministry also said JERA has signed a binding heads of agreement with AM Green for long-term green ammonia supply, reflecting Japan’s need for imported clean fuels as it works to decarbonise power generation.
South Korea is now part of the same export map. Reliance Industries said in March that it had signed a binding 15-year supply and purchase agreement with Samsung C&T for green ammonia worth more than $3 billion, with deliveries due to start in the second half of fiscal 2029. In Europe, where rules on renewable hydrogen are strict, the Ministry says AM Green won the Asian lot in H2Global’s auction mechanism and secured a long-term purchase arrangement for renewable fuel of non-biological origin ammonia, while also signing a firm supply deal with Uniper. India’s Green Hydrogen Standard, notified in 2023, sets an emissions threshold of no more than 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogram of hydrogen over a 12-month average.
The domestic market is starting to take shape alongside exports. According to the ministry, agreements have been reached to supply 670,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia to 11 fertiliser plants, and 30,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen to refineries operated by Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and Numaligarh Refinery. These contracts sit within the broader National Green Hydrogen Mission, approved by the Union Cabinet in January 2023 with an initial outlay of ₹19,744 crore, including ₹17,490 crore for the SIGHT incentive scheme. The government says the mission aims to create at least 5 million tonnes a year of production capacity by 2030, alongside new renewable power, jobs and lower fossil-fuel imports.
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