'Linde to invest $1 B in India over 3-5 yrs'

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Linde sees significant growth coming from traditional as well as new segments in India. The UK-headquartered company is planning to invest $1 billion to expand India operations in three-five years and $50 billion globally in the next 10 years, CEO Sanjiv Lamba tells Kalpana Pathak. Edited excerpts:What are your plans for Linde India? India as you know as a percentage of my global business is very small and disappointingly so.

India gases business has a 3% share. Right now, we've got a five-year plan and the interim vision is to get to 5%. Also, in the same period I expect a billion dollars or more to be invested in India.

I also see a very bright future for the engineering division. We have a huge competitive advantage because of the technical capabilities. The engineering group in India plays a critical role.

So, most of the billion dollars will get executed by the project engineering group.What role do you see Linde playing in India's green hydrogen economy? I'm very pleased that the government has provided incentives. This will spur activity and that's the right thing to do because you want innovation, you want technology to scale up and improve. I'm hoping that we will be leading some of the developments in that space and you'll hear more about that in the days ahead.

In India, the focus at the moment seems to be around green hydrogen or electrolysis hydrogen. I however, don't necessarily agree with the view that's been taken that you will get green hydrogen for $1 Kg. I will say somewhat practically that it's nonsense.