Green Hydrogen Mission: Rs 19,744 Crore for 5 MMT by 2030

The government has published an account of where India stands on green hydrogen, the fuel made by splitting water with renewable electricity. Because it burns to leave only water and heat, it is being pushed into industries where emissions are hardest to cut: fertiliser, petroleum refining, iron and steel, heavy road transport and shipping. It also feeds India's aim of net-zero emissions by 2070.

What counts as green

Hydrogen itself releases no carbon dioxide when used, so everything depends on how it is made. In August 2023 the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy notified India's Green Hydrogen Standard: hydrogen qualifies only if emissions stay within 2 kg of carbon dioxide equivalent for each kilogram of hydrogen, measured well-to-gate as a twelve-month average. India was among the first countries to put such a definition in writing.

The Mission and its money

The Union Cabinet cleared the National Green Hydrogen Mission in January 2023 with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore. It targets production capacity of at least 5 million metric tonnes a year by 2030, which could rise to 10 million metric tonnes if export demand holds. Its biggest component, the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition programme or SIGHT, carries Rs 17,490 crore up to 2029-30 and pays incentives on two sides of the market: making electrolysers at home and producing the hydrogen itself.

What has been achieved

Pilots, hubs and clusters

Pilot money has been earmarked at Rs 455 crore for low-carbon steel, Rs 496 crore for mobility and Rs 115 crore for shipping. Five steel pilots are sanctioned, and twelve mobility projects will put seventy hydrogen vehicles on the road along with sixteen refuelling stations across twenty-one routes. Deendayal Port at Kandla, V.O. Chidambaranar Port at Tuticorin and Paradip Port have been recognised as hydrogen hubs, and four Hydrogen Valley Innovation Clusters were awarded to Jodhpur, Odisha, Pune and Kerala. An indigenously built 1 MW plant was commissioned at Kandla in July 2025.

Rules that lower the cost

Plants commissioned by 31 December 2030 are exempt from inter-state transmission charges for twenty-five years. Open Access is to be granted within fifteen days and surplus renewable power may be banked for up to thirty days. Standalone electrolysis plants have been exempted from prior environmental clearance, and duty benefits under the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 have been extended to captive renewable equipment. Six states, namely Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal, have notified dedicated green hydrogen policies.