Green hydrogen is not India’s entire decarbonisation strategy, but it is central to its industrial competitiveness narrative. The combination of CBAM exposure for Indian industry, the net-zero 2070 commitment, an abundance of low-cost renewable resources, and a government policy framework with genuine financial backing creates preconditions few other emerging economies can match. The report “Why Green Hydrogen Is Becoming an Industrial Strategy Question” prepared by CareEdge-ESG highlights that the risks are real and structural: the cost gap with grey hydrogen remains significant, the execution record has lagged ambition, and the certification infrastructure needed for premium export markets is still incomplete. These are specific, manageable challenges that policymakers, DFIs, and industrial capital allocators need to address with precision. India’s solar industry followed exactly this arc: from 2010’s Rs 17/unit to below Rs 2/unit today, from near-zero manufacturing to the world’s third-largest solar market.
Green hydrogen’s physics are harder, its value chain more complex, and its timeline longer. But the structural logic is the same, and the policy architecture, corporate commitment, and global market pull are now sufficiently aligned that the trajectory is likely to steepen from here, much as it did for solar. While the pace and scale of deployment remain uncertain, the strategic relevance of green hydrogen within India’s industrial decarbonisation agenda is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Green hydrogen’s growth is close to a given; the real question for ESG-oriented investors and industrial strategists is where value creation will concentrate across the value chain. Production, equipment manufacturing, and end use applications will not scale equally, and capital efficiency will vary significantly across them.
Access the report here
