Adani’s decision to cancel the fully subscribed Rs.20,000 crore Follow On Public Offer has disappointed people who want India to build big green hydrogen projects to solve the energy problem.
Adani group had declared that it would invest heavily in green hydrogen projects using this public offer of Rs.20,000 crore, which is unlikely to materialise. India imports 80% of its 250 million tonne crude oil needs. 50% of India’s natural gas, 35 billion cubic metres per year, is imported. As local crude oil and natural gas production stagnates, imports are expected to rise 6–7% per year.
One of India’s various plans to reduce fossil fuel use and combat global warming is to heavily promote green energy projects. The 2023-24 Indian budget allocated Rs.35,000 crore for green energy projects.
From 2030, India aims to generate five million tonnes of green hydrogen, the industry’s total non-green hydrogen consumption. Green hydrogen would eliminate 30–40 million tonnes of CO2 emissions and save over 60,000 crore in natural gas and crude oil imports.
Adani’s business includes coal trading, mining, FMCG (Adani Wilmar), seaport, solar power manufacture, airports, highways, data centers, green hydrogen, and more. Green hydrogen projects, airports, and expressways would have been funded with roughly 10,800 crores if Adani had accepted the public offer.
Adani Group’s green hydrogen project proposal is one of the largest in India’s preliminary stage.
If India wants to reach a 5 trillion dollar GDP in the coming years, private sector investments in projects like Adani’s must increase. To achieve this goal, many enormous projects demand huge expenditure, which requires large public issues of several thousand crores of rupees.
US-based financial research firm attacked Adani group. Gullible investors panicked because such campaigns received huge publicity. Adani Group’s share prices plummeted. In such extreme circumstances, Adani group felt that proceeding with the fully subscribed issuance would not protect investors’ interests.
