PSUs, MNC subsidiaries mulling to foray into green hydrogen as enquiries rise: Inox Air Products

Inox Air Products

Enquiries for green hydrogen are on the rise from Indian public sector units and Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies, said a top executive from Inox Air Products, a leading manufacturer of industrial and medical gases in India.

The company expects new semiconductor businesses, in addition to solar and metal sectors, to drive growth for industrial gases in India.

“All or most of the inquiries (for green hydrogen) are coming from a combination of public sector units, like Indian Oil Corporation, and multinationals,” said Siddharth Jain, managing director of Inox Air Products, in an interview with Moneycontrol on May 16.

“Multinationals which have started following the green hydrogen path in their native countries, whether it is in Europe or in the US, have kind of given a direction to their Indian subsidiaries that they should explore the same. So we have a lot of inquiries for green hydrogen supply and we are actively pursuing all of them.”

State-owned oil refiners in India – Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Numaligarh Refinery, Mangalore Refineries, and Petrochemicals and Chennai Petroleum Corporation -- all have announced plans to add green hydrogen units.

Tata Steel order

Last week, Inox Air said it has won a contract worth Rs 1,300 crore from Tata Steel to set up two air separation units (ASUs) at the steel major’s Meramandali plant in Odisha. The two units will have a capacity to produce 1,800 tonnes of oxygen per day, besides nitrogen and argon.

Jain is hopeful that the liquid gases market will gain from the current expansion phase in the steel sector. “As steel (capacity) expands, we (our market) expand one to one with them,” he said, adding oxygen manufacturing capacity will expand in tandem. India’s national steel policy projects crude steel capacity of 300 million tonnes (MT) and production of 255 MT by 2030.

Expected growth of liquid gas market

India’s liquid gases market, Jain said, stands at 10,000 tonnes a day now. He expects this to grow to 12,000 tonnes a day in two years. “Out of that, we, just Inox, will be making 5,000 tonnes a day,” Jain said.

Growth in sectors, such as metals, semiconductor business, and the solar energy space will contribute to the expansion of the market for Inox Air, Jain added.

“Solar and semiconductor businesses have been very new. Originally, we were always into metals. After that, many new industries, like pharmaceuticals, healthcare, metal fabrication and food packaging, came. Now you have tile manufacturing, cement, glass, etc. It is a whole host of industries that have come up in the past 10 years,” he said.

In September, Vedanta signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government to set up a semiconductor unit in the state. Vedanta said it is setting up this plant in a joint venture (JV) with Taiwan-based Foxconn.