Modi's Hydrogen Bet Could Redraw the Industrial Map: Krishan Rattan of Terra Invest

I think green hydrogen could change where some of the world’s industrial work takes place. Renewable electricity can be converted into hydrogen and then used to make products that travel: ammonia, for example, or iron produced with hydrogen as a reducing agent. A country can export part of the value of its renewable resources through the work already performed inside those products.

That is what I mean by India exporting sunshine. At Terra Invest, the opportunity I find compelling is the combination of energy resources with engineering and manufacturing capability. India could seek to capture a larger share of industrial value by learning how to connect those capabilities effectively.

The National Green Hydrogen Mission provides a foundation, with an initial Rs 19,744 crore outlay and Rs 17,490 crore allocated to the SIGHT programme for electrolyser manufacturing and hydrogen production. The ambition deserves serious attention because it links the production of a new industrial input with the ability to make some of the equipment behind it. That combination is how lasting industries begin.

The right starting point is the customer’s physical requirement. A fertiliser producer may need ammonia. A downstream steel operation may need an appropriate iron input. There can be value in using renewable power to perform the energy-intensive stage near its source and shipping the resulting product. The location of that work becomes an industrial question, involving power, materials, logistics and expertise.

The destination does not always need to recover the original energy. If the useful product is ammonia, turning it back into hydrogen and then electricity adds conversions that the customer may have no reason to undertake. I expect some of the most interesting trade to emerge where a product arrives ready to perform its industrial function. That would let countries import the useful output of renewable resources located elsewhere.

Hydrogen has particular relevance where chemistry requires it. It can supply a feedstock or remove oxygen from iron ore. Those functions give it a distinct role within an electrifying economy. The IEA’s Global Hydrogen Review 2025 described demand concentrated in established industrial uses such as refining and chemicals. I see the transition of those activities towards cleaner production as a serious industrial opportunity, alongside the development of additional applications.

The engineering challenge deserves attention because it is also where valuable knowledge can accumulate. Renewable output varies. Equipment has operating limits and maintenance requirements. A downstream chemical process needs a dependable supply of inputs. An effective project has to reconcile those conditions through its design, storage and operating strategy.

Consider renewable ammonia production. Producing hydrogen at one point and synthesising ammonia at another introduces a need to coordinate the processes. The best configuration depends on the generation profile, equipment behaviour and required output. Solving that problem repeatedly can create expertise that extends well beyond the cost of a single electrolyser.

India could develop industrial clusters that make this learning easier. Shared water treatment, storage, power infrastructure and logistics can support connected businesses. Local equipment suppliers and engineering teams can gain experience across several projects. As they improve, the region becomes a more capable place to build the next facility.

There are several forms of value India could export from such an ecosystem. Some would be physical products made using renewable energy. Some would be equipment, control systems and engineering services. Some would be the operating knowledge needed to make complex facilities work reliably. The ambition should encompass all of these possibilities, because they draw on different strengths and can reinforce one another.

This is why I view India’s hydrogen agenda through an industrial lens. A country develops lasting capability when its companies can design, improve and maintain the systems they deploy. Production creates experience; experience can support better equipment and more capable firms. The potential national benefit extends across that development process.

India can pursue it through substantial international cooperation. Gulf economies can be partners in new fuels, manufacturing and energy-intensive production. Different projects will combine resources, expertise and market access in different ways. A stronger Indian equipment and engineering base would give India more ways to participate in that future trade.

My expectation is that low-emissions energy will increasingly influence the geography of selected industries. India should aim to become a place where renewable resources are converted into sophisticated, useful products, and where the knowledge to do that is developed. Exporting sunshine would then mean exporting Indian capability along with it.