Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2021 formally announced the launch of a National Hydrogen Mission to accelerate plans to generate the carbon-free fuel from renewables as he set a target of 2047 for India to achieve self-reliance in energy.
The roadmap is to increase usage of natural gas in the economy, setting up a network for supply of CNG and piped natural gas across the country, blending 20 percent ethanol in petrol and electric mobility.
The country has achieved the target of 100 GW of renewable energy capacity ahead of the target. The target is to make India a global hub for production as well as export of green hydrogen.
The National Hydrogen Mission was first announced in the Union Budget for 2021-22 in February 2021.
Currently, all hydrogen consumed in India comes from fossil fuels. By 2050, three-fourth of all hydrogen is projected to be green -- produced by renewable electricity and electrolysis.
The government is also looking at raising the share of natural gas in the economy to 15 percent by 2030 from the current 6.2 percent. In line with the government's focus on hydrogen, both private and public sector companies have announced ambitious hydrogen projects.
While Reliance Industries and Adani Group are pushing ahead with their plans to make hydrogen a part of their portfolio, the nation's biggest state-run refiner IOC has also unveiled hydrogen plans.
The Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) is working on technology to develop hydrogen-spiked compressed natural gas or H-CNG.