The government of India announced in the Union Budget 2021, its plan to launch a National Hydrogen Mission and may come out with a draft mission in the coming months. For the current financial year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has been allotted Rs 25 crore for research and development (R&D) in hydrogen. Once the draft of the mission is in place, it will be floated for public consultation.

There will be five key areas the government will focus on which includes R&D, demand creation, how it can be used in industry, how to create an eco-system including policies for this and how-to bring industry on board along with international partnerships. In these five areas, demand creation will focus on what kind of niche products can be taken up and how effectively the fuel can be used in trucks and buses. In the industrial sector, the government is looking at hydrogen as a replacement for coke in the steel industry and making use of the fuel in the fertilizer sector. MNRE has indicated that by 2025-26, the industrial sector will be one of the major recipients of hydrogen.

For India, Hydrogen presents a potential opportunity to decrease reliance on oil imports and focus on alternate energy sources. India’s Union Budget for 2021-22 has announced a National Hydrogen Energy Mission (NHM) that will draw up a road map for using hydrogen as an energy source. IESA anticipates hydrogen mission can enable India to fast-track decarbonisation of the grid, industrial sector, and transportation sector in the coming decade. India presents a significant opportunity for Norwegian companies in Green hydrogen space. 

This program will facilitate business connect between Norwegian companies and leading Indian companies in the field of green Hydrogen technologies and helping the Norwegian companies to understand India market opportunities including business and projects.