India may adopt reciprocal retaliation strategy against barriers in trade in green hydrogen: Union minister RK Singh

New Delhi, July 5 (KNN) The Power and Renewable Energy Minister R.K. Singh on Wednesday said that India is ready to put barriers in green hydrogen trade in response to other nations imposing restrictions.

Speaking at the International Conference on Green Hydrogen in New Delhi, Singh said, “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.”

As per reports, the renewable energy minister did not elaborate on what India’s retaliatory barriers may be.

Renewable energy secretary Bhupinder Singh Bhalla last month has informed that 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.

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.

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.  (KNN Bureau)