The National Green Hydrogen Mission

Not all hydrogen is equal. Most of it today is made from fossil fuels, carrying a real carbon footprint. Green hydrogen is different: it’s split from water using electricity from renewable sources. India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission bets on that cleaner version, at industrial scale.

MCQ Questions

Environment & Ecology

₹19,744 crore to make India a global hub for clean, electrolysed hydrogen

4 January 2023

Cabinet Approval

₹19,744 crore outlay approved, led by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

2023-2025

SIGHT Incentives Roll Out

₹17,490 crore backs electrolyser manufacturing and green hydrogen production.

By May 2025

Capacity Allocated

19 firms win 862,000 tonnes/year production capacity; 15 win 3,000 MW electrolyser capacity.

October 2025

Three Green Hydrogen Hubs

Deendayal, V.O. Chidambaranar, and Paradip ports named as integrated hubs.

📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Must Know
3Good to Know
4Test Yourself
5Great to Know
6Current Affairs

💧 Must Know

1. The Mission at a Glance

Approval The National Green Hydrogen Mission was approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 January 2023. Its outlay is ₹19,744 crore.
Nodal Ministry The mission’s nodal ministry is the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Goal Its stated goal is to make India a global hub for the production, use, and export of green hydrogen and its derivatives.

2. The Targets

Production The target is 5 million metric tonnes of green hydrogen production capacity a year, by 2030.
Renewable Energy It’s paired with roughly 125 GW of added renewable energy capacity.
Electrolysers The mission also targets 15 GW of electrolyser manufacturing capacity by 2030.

💰 Good to Know

Where the Money Goes: SIGHT

Split The outlay splits across components: ₹17,490 crore to the SIGHT programme, ₹1,466 crore to pilot projects, ₹400 crore to R&D, and ₹388 crore to other mission components.
SIGHT This stands for Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition. It runs two incentive tracks: one for domestic electrolyser manufacturing, one for green hydrogen production itself.
Pilots Five pilot projects are testing hydrogen-powered buses and trucks, one of the mission’s target end-use sectors.
Hubs Three ports were named Green Hydrogen Hubs in October 2025, meant to integrate production, consumption, and future export in one place.

How Green Hydrogen Is Actually Used

Direct Combustion Green hydrogen can be used directly as a fuel for internal combustion — hydrogen internal combustion engines burn it much like petrol, though this is less common than fuel-cell use.
Blended With Natural Gas It can be blended with natural gas and used as fuel for heat or power generation — field trials show blends up to around 20% by volume can run through existing gas pipelines and appliances safely.
Fuel Cells It can also be used in a hydrogen fuel cell to run vehicles — fuel cell electric vehicles are more efficient than combustion engines and emit only water vapour.

Test Yourself

🔬 Great to Know

Why “Green” Depends on the Power Source

Electrolysis Green hydrogen is only as clean as the electricity used to make it. Electrolysis splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.
The Renewable Test That process only counts as “green” if the power driving it comes from renewable sources. This is why the mission pairs its hydrogen target with a large renewable-capacity add-on.
Hard-to-Electrify Sectors The mission targets sectors that are hard to electrify directly, like steel, fertiliser production, and heavy transport. Green hydrogen offers a decarbonisation path where batteries alone don’t work well.
Part of a Layered Strategy The mission sits alongside India’s other clean-energy pushes, including rooftop solar under PM Surya Ghar. This reflects a layered strategy, not a single silver-bullet technology.
The Cost Challenge Cost remains the central challenge. Green hydrogen is still more expensive to produce than fossil-fuel-based hydrogen. Closing that gap is what the SIGHT programme’s production incentives are designed to do, over time.

Previous Year Questions

Asked as: “Which of the following statements with regard to Green Hydrogen is/are correct?” (UPSC CSP 2026, GS Paper I).

Also asked as: “With reference to green hydrogen, consider the following statements…” (UPSC CSP 2023, GS Paper I, Q60).

📰 Current Affairs

ACME’s Green Ammonia and Methanol Deals with Japan

2 Jul 2026 ACME Cleantech Solutions (ACME Group) signed landmark green-ammonia and green-methanol offtake deals with Japanese companies. This came under the mission’s SIGHT Programme. ACME holds a SIGHT-awarded production capacity of 370 kTPA. (Source: News On AIR)
Deal One Under the first deal, with IHI Corporation, ACME will supply 405 kTPA of green ammonia. This is backed by Japan’s METI-administered Contract for Difference (CfD) scheme, for low-carbon ammonia. (Source: News On AIR)
Deal Two Under the second deal, ACME signed a 10-year agreement with Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company (MGC). It will supply 100 kTPA of green methanol, from its Paradip facility. This aligns with EU RFNBO requirements, and IMO clean marine fuel standards. (Source: News On AIR)
Signing The deals were signed at Atal Akshay Urja Bhawan, New Delhi. MNRE and Japan’s METI officials were present. They rank among India’s largest green ammonia and methanol offtake commitments to Japan, to date. (Source: News On AIR)