India May Fall Short of 2030 Green Hydrogen Target Amid Global Policy Delays

India is likely to miss its goal of producing 5 million metric tonnes (MMTPA) of green hydrogen by 2030, with the new target now set at 3 MMTPA by that year and the full goal postponed to 2032. Renewable energy secretary Santosh Sarangi attributed the delay to policy uncertainties in Europe, which have slowed investment decisions and weakened export demand expectations.

The official noted that Europe’s delay in finalizing renewable energy targets has impacted India’s export-focused projects, while a setback in global shipping decarbonization efforts has also reduced short-term demand for green hydrogen in maritime transport.

To counter these challenges, the Indian government plans to stimulate domestic consumption by promoting the use of green hydrogen in shipping and methanol production. The Renewable Energy Ministry is collaborating with the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board to issue new tenders for hydrogen supply to refineries.

Additionally, the ministry is assessing available grid connectivity to align upcoming renewable energy tenders with infrastructure readiness. The government is also taking steps to resolve the issue of more than 40 gigawatts of renewable projects currently lacking confirmed buyers, ensuring that project viability is addressed at the planning stage.

Downward revision of India's green-hydrogen target - 5 MMTPA by 2030 to 3 MMTPA by 2030 with 5 MMTPA pushed to 2032 - reflects the practical reality of export-market demand delays. European policy uncertainty and the IMO shipping-decarbonisation setback have both reduced the near-term export demand-signal that Indian export-focused hydrogen projects were built around.

The pivot toward domestic consumption (refineries, methanol production, shipping) is strategically important. Building domestic demand independent of export-market timing gives Indian green-hydrogen projects a more resilient demand base. The parallel focus on grid-connectivity alignment for renewable projects addresses the systemic dependencies that link hydrogen production to renewable-electricity availability.

For hydrogen developers, industrial off-takers, financial institutions supporting hydrogen investment and their supply-chain partners, Cognitud's energy transition, market intelligence and responsible investment teams help clients evaluate revised-target investment cases, structure offtake arrangements that reflect evolving domestic demand, and prepare disclosures aligned with ISSB, TCFD and jurisdictional hydrogen frameworks that increasingly determine access to sustainable-finance for large-scale hydrogen projects.