India to push green hydrogen, digital agenda at G20: Amitabh Kant

INTERNATIONAL DESK: India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant on Friday said while there would be a consensus on the various issues that are being discussed at the forum during New Delhi’s presidency, the country will be putting forth a developmental agenda, including digital public initiative and the drive for green hydrogen.

Speaking at the Confederation of India’s (CII) southern regional conference in Chennai, he said the country has been advocating inclusive resilient growth when one-third of the world is facing recession, while developed countries wanted to discuss war-related issues, like food, fuel, and fertilisers.

“We will do everything possible… despite the challenges and the global tension, we played a key role in Bali and will continue to do a key role for bringing all countries together. We are ambitious about the developmental issues and has been inclusive all along,” he said.

Asked about whether there are still any issues that have to be ironed out, Kant said only 50% of work has been done and the remaining half will be completed in another three month. In September, the stakeholders are converging in Delhi. “Many of the issues are being discussed in the third and fourth round. We are happy with the progress achieved so far on all the issues in the agenda,”he said.

Highlighting the importance of green hydrogen, Kant said India currently imports $200 billion of fossil fuel. The country can reduce this import bill by investing in green hydrogen and also be the biggest producer and exporter of green hydrogen in the coming years.

He said that while relative shares of the economies of the developed world to the global output were dwindling , countries like India, China and African countries have been on a path to growth because of the young demographies. To take advantage of the situation, he called on the industries to propel the manufacturing market which will make products of international standards at affordable rates which will in turn benefit the country’s economy.

According to him, for higher growth to be achieved, every state should be champions. “We need 10 to 12 states to grow at 10% plus to enable other states to also grow. The southern states have to play a key and critical role as they are the best in competition,” Kant said. (Financial Express)