India’s renewable energy ministry says companies have signed green hydrogen offtake contracts covering more than 550,000 tonnes a year since 2023, with over 70% earmarked for export and about Rs 90,000 crore of investment expected.
India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has said Indian companies have signed what it calls the world’s largest green hydrogen offtake commitments. Since the National Green Hydrogen Mission launched in 2023, 23 offtake contracts have covered about 550,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen equivalent.
More than 70% of that volume is earmarked for export. In the current calendar year alone, Indian companies have signed 18 new agreements covering more than 400,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen equivalent. The ministry expects the projects to attract about Rs 90,000 crore, or $9.5 billion, in investment.
The ministry lists several named deals. ACME Group has agreed 488,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia with Japan’s IHI, and 100,000 tonnes a year of green methanol with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical. Reliance Industries has a long-term agreement with South Korea’s Samsung C&T worth more than $3 billion, with deliveries expected from 2028.
L&T and ITOCHU have formed a special purpose vehicle for 300,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia, with deliveries expected from December 2029. AM Green is the sole winner in the Asian lot of the H2Global auction. The buyer, HINT.CO GmbH, will pay a minimum of €585 million over 10 years for ammonia, with first deliveries to Germany expected in 2029.
AM Green also has a firm agreement with Germany’s Uniper for 250,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia. Agastya is arranging an offtake of 250,000 tonnes a year of green methanol with SAR in Sri Lanka. The ministry’s list describes that arrangement as still in progress.
Domestic demand sits under a separate scheme. The Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) programme covers agreements for 670,000 tonnes a year of green ammonia for 11 fertiliser units. It also covers 30,000 tonnes a year of green hydrogen for refineries run by Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation and Numaligarh Refinery.
The headline total and the company deals use different units. The ministry states the total in green hydrogen equivalent, while the company volumes are quoted in tonnes of ammonia or methanol. The sources do not convert between them, so the figures should not be added together.
The National Green Hydrogen Mission has an initial outlay of Rs 19,744 crore up to 2029-30. It targets at least 5 million tonnes a year of green hydrogen production by 2030. The ministry says the mission should add 125 GW of renewable energy capacity, draw more than Rs 8 lakh crore of investment and create over 600,000 full-time jobs.
It also expects the mission to avoid 50 million tonnes of carbon emissions a year. These are mission targets and expected outcomes, not results already delivered. Offtake contracts show demand intent, and plants still need to be built, financed and commissioned.
Lenders value green hydrogen offtake agreements because they give a project a buyer before construction begins. In India, the government has also tried to lower entry costs, issuing a model electrolyser-as-a-service contract for green hydrogen developers.
Globally, the pipeline is large but uneven. The Hydrogen Council has identified a $130bn low-carbon hydrogen pipeline, and India’s signed contracts add buyers in Japan, Germany, South Korea and Sri Lanka. Green ammonia is also being tested as a shipping fuel and for co-firing in thermal power plants.
Export dominates the green hydrogen offtake volume, so shipping and port capacity form part of the story. Green ammonia is emerging as a cleaner shipping fuel. The German H2Global award sets a minimum payment of €585 million over 10 years, and the sources give no delivery terms for the other export contracts.
Domestic offtake follows a different logic. Fertiliser units and refineries already buy hydrogen and ammonia, so green supply replaces an existing product at a known site. The SIGHT agreements cover 11 fertiliser units and four public-sector refiners, which gives those producers a route to lower-carbon feedstock.
Investment expectations for green hydrogen offtake projects also need care. The Rs 90,000 crore figure, equal to $9.5 billion, is what the ministry expects the projects to attract. It is not committed capital, and the sources do not break it down by project or by year.
The ministry’s claim that the commitments are the world’s largest is its own characterisation, and the sources do not verify it independently. The next test is how many of the 23 contracts reach financial close and begin deliveries.
