Steel without the energy security challenge: India’s green hydrogen opportunity
Steel without the energy security challenge: India’s green hydrogen opportunity zchaudhuri.ieefa Fri, 02/20/2026 - 10:40 Insights Coal Steel Natural Gas South Asia India coal-pit-generic-trucks_optimized_1000.jpg Saumya Nautiyal Saumya Nautiyal is an Energy Finance Analyst, Steel Sector, South Asia at IEEFA. She examines the steel sector’s technology transition, energy and resource security and pathways for industrial decarbonisation. Go to Profile Green hydrogen could emerge as a long-term strategic resource for India’s steel sector, helping reduce dependence on imported metallurgical coal and strengthening energy security. Projects such as JSW Steel’s Vijayanagar plant demonstrate that the domestic use of green hydrogen in steelmaking is technically and operationally feasible at industrial sites. Rising steel demand, combined with a projected surge in green steel demand by 2030 and 2050, positions India’s domestic steel sector as a reliable and scalable source of early demand for green hydrogen, particularly as export pathways remain costly.