Industry body IH2A seeks $2.5 bn additional allocation for NGHM in Budget

Industry body India Hydrogen Alliance has sought an additional budgetary support of $ 2.5 billion for government's National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM) in the upcoming Budget.

The additional funds will be essential for supporting demand side incentives, capital expenditures for building hydrogen infrastructure and hydrogen hub development, the India Hydrogen Alliance (IH2A) said in its Budget recommendation to the government.

The body has "recommended increasing budgetary support for the National Green Hydrogen Mission (NGHM), with an additional $ 2.5 billion allocation in addition to the $ 2.3 billion already allocated to NGHM".

IH2A also raised industry concerns about slow project development and the lack of offtake agreement for green hydrogen.

Demand side incentives, capex subsidies, establishment of green hydrogen development corporations (GHDCs) shall address these challenges, the body said.

The public finance and funding will also support in development of five more national hydrogen hubs.

IH2A Secretariat Lead Amrit Singh Deo said, "Potential green hydrogen offtake entities are holding back on committing to long-term offtake due to high price of green hydrogen. We are proposing increasing the budgetary allocation for NGHM by an additional $ 2.5 billion."  This increased funding should help provide offtake-linked demand side incentives to industrial entities in the refinery, fertiliser, steel and chemical sectors, as well as in heavy duty transport sectors, he said.

This is expected to increase development of more green hydrogen projects and ensure India meets its green hydrogen ambitions and 2030 targets, Deo said.

IH2A is an industry coalition of global and Indian companies. It collaborates with private sector partners, the government and the public to ensure that costs of hydrogen production are brought down and increasing local supply chain.