India’s green hydrogen market is moving from policy ambition to contracted demand, with 23 domestic entities signing offtake agreements for more than 5.5 lakh metric tonnes per annum and projects expected to attract around ₹90,000 crore in investment. The scale is significant not only because it positions India as a major supplier of green hydrogen derivatives, but also because more than 70 per cent of the contracted volume is intended for export markets.
The figures, released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and reported by The Hindu BusinessLine, show how the National Green Hydrogen Mission is being translated into long-term commercial commitments. They also reveal the infrastructure challenge ahead: India will need renewable power, electrolysers, water systems, storage, ports, specialised transport and industrial users to work as one connected supply chain.
The agreements cover green hydrogen and its derivatives, particularly green ammonia and green methanol. These products are easier to transport and use in sectors that are difficult to decarbonise directly. Green ammonia is being positioned as a fuel for shipping and as a potential input for co-firing in thermal power plants, while green hydrogen derivatives are increasingly being used in fertiliser production and refining.
This matters because the economics of green hydrogen depend on more than the cost of producing hydrogen itself. The product must be generated using renewable electricity, converted where necessary into ammonia or methanol, transported safely and delivered to an industrial customer under a long-term contract. Each stage requires infrastructure and institutional coordination. A signed offtake agreement therefore represents a demand signal, but it does not by itself confirm that the entire project pipeline has reached construction or commercial operation.
The Ministry said that 18 agreements had been signed during 2026 for the supply of more than 4 lakh MTPA of green hydrogen equivalent quantity. Since the National Green Hydrogen Mission was launched in 2023, the total number of contracts has reached 23, covering approximately 5.5 lakh MTPA. The ministry described this as the world’s largest green hydrogen offtake commitment.
The investment estimate of around ₹90,000 crore indicates the scale of industrial assets that may be created around these contracts. However, the investment is likely to be distributed across several parts of the value chain rather than concentrated in a single type of facility. Renewable energy capacity will be required to power production. Electrolyser manufacturing and deployment will determine how efficiently electricity can be converted into hydrogen. Ammonia and methanol plants, storage terminals and export logistics will connect production sites to overseas buyers.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission was approved with an initial outlay of ₹19,744 crore up to 2029-30. Its 2030 objectives include producing at least 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen annually, adding 125 GW of renewable energy capacity, attracting more than ₹8 lakh crore in total investment, creating over 6 lakh full-time jobs and avoiding 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year.
These targets establish the mission as an industrial and infrastructure programme rather than only an energy-transition scheme. The renewable energy addition required by the mission is many times larger than the capacity directly associated with individual hydrogen plants. This means the success of the hydrogen programme will depend partly on the ability of the power system to provide large volumes of reliable renewable electricity, along with the transmission and balancing infrastructure needed to connect generation to production.
The export concentration adds another layer to the policy design. More than 70 per cent of the contracted offtake is earmarked for overseas markets, including Europe, Japan, South Korea and Sri Lanka. Export contracts can provide predictable demand and foreign-exchange earnings, but they also require India to meet international certification, delivery and emissions standards. The projects will need to demonstrate that the hydrogen or its derivatives qualify as renewable under the rules of importing markets.
Several agreements illustrate how this export network is taking shape. Reliance Industries has entered into a long-term supply and purchase agreement with Samsung C&T Corporation of South Korea valued at more than $3 billion. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2028. AM Green, part of the Greenko Group, has been selected as the sole winner of the Asian lot in the H2Global auction operated by HINT.CO GmbH. Under that arrangement, HINT.CO will purchase ammonia from AM Green for a minimum value of €585 million over 10 years, with first deliveries expected in 2029.
AM Green has also signed an offtake agreement with Germany’s Uniper for 2,50,000 MTPA of green ammonia and a binding head of agreement with Japan’s JERA for 70,000 MTPA. ACME Group has agreements for 4,88,000 MTPA of green ammonia with Japan’s IHI and 1,00,000 MTPA of green methanol with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. L&T and ITOCHU have formed a special purpose vehicle for 3,00,000 tonnes per annum of green ammonia, with deliveries expected from December 2029.
Other agreements point to a broader range of project developers and buyers. Agastya is in the process of arranging offtake for 2,50,000 MTPA of green methanol to Sri Lanka, while Jouno Joules has signed an agreement with Select Energy GmbH for 600 tonnes per day of green ammonia, equivalent to about 2,19,000 MTPA.
The domestic side of the mission is being developed through the Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition programme, known as SIGHT. Agreements have been signed for the production and supply of 6,70,000 MTPA of green ammonia to 11 fertiliser units across India. Separate projects have been awarded for the production and supply of 30,000 MTPA of green hydrogen to the refineries of Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Numaligarh Refinery.
These domestic contracts are important because fertiliser and refining are existing industrial sectors with established demand for hydrogen or ammonia-related products. They offer a route for green hydrogen to enter the economy through industrial substitution rather than through the creation of entirely new end-use markets. At the same time, the quantities identified for domestic use and export show that India is pursuing two goals simultaneously: building an export industry and reducing emissions in selected domestic industries.
The infrastructure geography of this transition is not specified in the ministry statement, but the nature of the contracts indicates that production will need to connect industrial clusters and ports. Export-oriented facilities will require access to maritime logistics and ammonia-handling infrastructure. Domestic fertiliser and refinery users will require reliable supply arrangements that fit within existing industrial operations. The location of renewable power, water availability, transmission capacity and proximity to buyers will influence the eventual shape of the network.
Cost competitiveness will remain central to whether these commitments become durable markets. The ministry said Indian suppliers are offering competitive prices for green ammonia and green methanol in European and Japanese markets. The reported contracts provide evidence of buyer interest, but the supplied information does not establish the final delivered cost of each project, the level of public support attached to every agreement or the construction status of the underlying facilities.
That distinction is important. Offtake commitments reduce market uncertainty by establishing a prospective buyer, but project delivery still depends on finance, permits, renewable power procurement, equipment supply, construction and certification. The dates mentioned in the agreements—2028 for the Reliance-Samsung C&T arrangement and 2029 for several AM Green and L&T-linked supplies—make implementation milestones particularly important for assessing whether the market is progressing from contracts to operating assets.
The emerging pattern also raises a governance question. The Mission is centrally designed and supported, but implementation will involve energy companies, fertiliser producers, refineries, equipment manufacturers, ports, exporters, foreign buyers and state-level authorities. Coordination across these institutions will determine whether individual projects can be integrated into a functioning industrial system. The scale of the announced investment makes delays in any one part of the chain relevant to the wider programme.
India’s green hydrogen push therefore represents more than a bet on a new fuel. It is an attempt to create a new layer of industrial infrastructure around renewable power and globally traded molecules. The evidence currently confirms a substantial pipeline of signed offtake commitments, a large projected investment opportunity and a clear export orientation. What remains to be established is how quickly these agreements convert into commissioned capacity, how much of the mission’s demand is met domestically and whether the supporting power, logistics and certification systems are delivered on schedule.
