The India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) has requested an additional USD 2.5 billion in funding for the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) in the upcoming government budget. This increase in budget allocation is seen as crucial for supporting demand-side incentives, infrastructure development, and the establishment of hydrogen hubs across the country.
In its budget recommendation, IH2A urged the government to supplement the existing USD 2.3 billion allocated to the mission with an extra USD 2.5 billion. This additional funding will help address key challenges, including slow project development and the lack of long-term offtake agreements for green hydrogen.
The organization emphasized the importance of demand-side incentives, capital expenditure subsidies, and the creation of Green Hydrogen Development Corporations (GHDCs) to foster the growth of the sector. It also proposed the development of five additional national hydrogen hubs to support the mission.
Jillian Evanko, President and CEO of Chart Industries (NYSE: GTLS) and a Founding Member of the India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A), expressed optimism about IH2A’s submission to the Government of India for enhanced budgetary support. She commended the government’s initial steps toward demand aggregation and offtake incentives in the fertilizer and refinery sectors through the Mode 2A and 2B Guidelines under the NGHM SIGHT Scheme. Evanko emphasized the need for a substantial public funding initiative, suggesting that a USD 5 billion India Hydrogen Transition Fund would align India with the EU in terms of public funding for hydrogen development. However, she noted that this funding would still fall short of India’s actual requirements, given the need to build the entire hydrogen value chain domestically. She highlighted five critical priorities for 2024: establishing more hydrogen hubs, accelerating decarbonization in steel and chemicals, developing hydrogen infrastructure, promoting domestic manufacturing of equipment, and fostering specialized skill development.
Amrit Singh Deo, Secretariat Lead of IH2A, elaborated on the funding strategy for the proposed National Hydrogen Transition and Development Fund. He suggested that the USD 5 billion fund could be sourced through a combination of multilateral funding and government energy transition allocations. Deo proposed leveraging resources from the energy transition fund managed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and exploring opportunities through sovereign green bonds. This comprehensive approach would help drive India’s hydrogen economy forward and support its ambitions for a cleaner, greener future.
By boosting funding, IH2A believes India can accelerate the development of green hydrogen projects and achieve its 2030 sustainability goals. The alliance is a coalition of global and Indian companies working to reduce hydrogen production costs and strengthen the local supply chain.
