India will put retaliatory barriers on green hydrogen trade - minister

By Sarita Chaganti Singh

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will put up barriers in green hydrogen trade in response to other nations imposing restrictions, the nation's renewable energy ministry said at a conference on Wednesday.

As one of the world's biggest emitters of climate-warming gases, India is betting on green hydrogen to help cut its emissions and to reach its target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2070.

"Some countries are putting barriers on green hydrogen (trade and technology). If they are putting up barriers we will also put up barriers, then you will be losing out on our market," Power and Renewable Energy Minister R K Sing said at the International Conference on Green Hydrogen.

India is already in discussions with Germany over conditions in its hydrogen purchase tender with the European Union, which members of Indian industry found restrictive, renewable energy secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla said last month.

The tender, issued in December, has a condition stating that the distance between the hydrogen manufacturing plant and the renewable energy plant should be 500 kilometres or less, an industry source at the conference told Reuters.

Singh did not elaborate on what India's retaliatory barriers may be. He told the conference that Indian companies have already set plans to manufacture 3.5 million tonnes of green hydrogen.

Last year, New Delhi approved a 174.9 billion rupees incentive plan for the fuel, which is made using renewable energy and without producing greenhouse gases. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a target to produce 5 million tonnes of green hydrogen by 2030.

Earlier this year, Singh said that huge subsidies announced by some developed countries for their green hydrogen sectors can distort trade and is in violation of World Trade Organization (WTO) norms.

(Writing by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Emma Rumney)