The decarbonisation pathway for processes that cannot simply electrify.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission targets 5 MMTPA by 2030. SIGHT incentives provide critical early-stage price support. The HPO will create mandatory demand from fertiliser and refining sectors. The West Asia war has conclusively validated the energy security case for domestic green hydrogen — India’s current grey hydrogen dependence is entirely tied to LNG imports transiting Hormuz.
Green hydrogen is the decarbonisation pathway for processes that cannot simply electrify — steel via H₂-DRI, fertilisers via green ammonia, refining via clean hydrogen, and heavy transport via fuel cells. India’s policy framework for green hydrogen is maturing, and the financial instruments are live. The National Green Hydrogen Mission, launched in January 2023 with an outlay of Rs 19,744 crore, targets 5 million metric tonnes per annum of domestic green hydrogen production capacity by 2030.
The West Asia war has added a new urgency to this agenda. India’s current dependence on grey hydrogen — 98 percent of it consumed by the fertiliser and refining sectors — is almost entirely tied to LNG imports transiting the Strait of Hormuz. At elevated urea import prices, the subsidy per imported tonne often exceeds the total production cost of green urea at current green hydrogen prices. The energy security case for domestic green hydrogen, always compelling in theory, has been validated conclusively by the Hormuz crisis.
National Green Hydrogen Mission
Launched in January 2023, the Mission is India’s central policy vehicle for scaling green hydrogen production. It targets 5 MMTPA of domestic production capacity by 2030, annual CO₂ emission reductions of 50 million tonnes, and creation of over 600,000 jobs. Administered by MNRE, with SECI as the implementing agency, it forms the policy framework under which all subsequent hydrogen-related programmes and obligations sit.
MNRE Green Hydrogen page →SIGHT Programme
The Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) programme is the financial delivery mechanism. It provides production-linked incentives for domestic electrolyser manufacturing, and demand incentives for green hydrogen production itself (declining over three years). SECI’s regular green hydrogen tenders continue to award capacity with 10-year offtake agreements — providing the revenue certainty that early producers need to raise project finance.
MNRE SIGHT programme page →Green Hydrogen Purchase Obligation (HPO)
The HPO mandates that certain industries procure a minimum quantity of green hydrogen as a share of their total hydrogen consumption. The fertiliser sector and the petroleum refining sector are the primary targets. The HPO is designed to work similarly to the Renewable Purchase Obligation: create a mandatory demand signal that gives green hydrogen producers revenue visibility.
Read the HPO framework analysis →Green Hydrogen for Heavy Transport
The National Green Hydrogen Mission approved funding for pilot projects covering hydrogen buses and trucks across key routes. Trials link industry clusters, ports, and freight corridors where hydrogen deployment can address both range and payload requirements that constrain battery electric trucks in heavy-haul applications. The trial programme generates the operational data needed to validate the hydrogen truck TCO crossover with diesel at scale.
MNRE website →National Policy on Biofuels
The National Policy on Biofuels supports production, blending, and use of biofuels across transport and industrial sectors. For industries where direct electrification is difficult and green hydrogen remains expensive — particularly industrial process heat and heavy road transport — biofuels offer a transitional pathway that reduces emissions at lower upfront cost than hydrogen-based alternatives.
Ministry of Petroleum website →