State-owned Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) has announced that it will build India's largest green hydrogen-production plant as it looks to supplement its natural gas business with carbon-free fuel.

Speaking at an industry conference, GAIL Chairman and MD Manoj Jain stated that the company has floated a global tender to procure an electrolyser.

"It will take 12-14 months to put the plant," he said adding the company has finalized two to three sites for the unit including one at Vijaipur in Madhya Pradesh (MP). 

Jain said that the plant planned is for 10MW capacity, the largest announced so far in the country. State electricity producer NTPC has announced a 5 MW green hydrogen plant.

"We have on a pilot basis started mixing hydrogen in natural gas in one of the cities," he said adding the company is testing for idea mix percentage before scaling it up. The hydrogen which Gail plans to produce can be sold to fertilizer units which as per government mandate are required to use hydrogen as fuel, he said