India's finance ministry wants lower energy prices for green steel incentives, sources say
NEW DELHI, June 4 (Reuters) - India's finance ministry wants green hydrogen prices to soften before deciding on financial support for production of steel using clean energy, two sources familiar with the matter said, as New Delhi seeks to control inflation and its expenditure.
Indian steel producers have been asking for federal incentives as the nation considers mandating the use of a certain percentage of green steel in government projects.
India, the world's biggest steel producer after China and a key green house gas emitter, has been working on a green steel policy to decarbonise production of the alloy.
A delay in the launch of federal financial support could slow India's energy transition plans to meet 2070 net zero goal.
The steel ministry is seeking incentives from the finance ministry for decarbonisation efforts.
The finance ministry has argued that high green hydrogen costs would make use of green steel unviable and 'potentially inflationary', the sources told Reuters.
The deliberations between the two ministries have been slowed, as the finance ministry has cautioned against a "hasty approach," one of the sources said, declining to be identified as discussions are not public.
"Steel is an intermediate product and manufacturing green steel would be costly and there is a need to have a balanced approach between growth and sustainability," the source said, referring to the finance ministry's thinking.
India's finance and steel ministries did not respond to Reuters' emails seeking comments.
Currently, a majority of Indian steel mills depend on coal for their blast furnace operations.
The steel ministry has touted the use of green hydrogen as an alternative but high costs are a deterrent.
In December, India said steel produced with carbon dioxide emissions of less than 2.2 tonne per tonne of finished steel would be defined as "green steel".
Steel producers in India, the world's fastest-growing major economy, generate 2.55 metric tons of carbon dioxide per ton of crude steel produced, 38% higher than the global average of 1.85 tons, according to Global Energy Monitor.
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He attended the enthronement of the Dalai Llama, taking a young artist called Kanwal Krishna with him who captured the event with a series of watercolours. Other lots sold on Thursday included a portrait of the Tibetan leader during the ceremony. The painting, which sold for £152,800, was also among those that Tibetans were keen to keep from Chinese hands ahead of the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday next month. Another lot – a collection of 40 watercolours from Krishna's 1939 to 1940 visit to Lhasa with Sir Basil – sold for £457,600. In a video promoting the sale, Giles Peppiatt, head of fine art at Bonhams, said: 'These are extraordinarily rare images and to have these images from a first-hand source is unprecedented. 'The Gould collection shows a remarkable insight into Tibet in the 1940s and most importantly shows us the principal characters in the divination, in the search and the enthronement of the 14th Dalai Llama.' 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The writer then goes on to describe how a compromise was later reached in which Tibet was divided into Inner and Outer Tibet –with some degree of Chinese control 'contemplated for Inner Tibet', while Outer Tibet was to be autonomous. The document was auctioned off as part of a larger lot described as 'a large box of papers, letters, manuscripts and other ephemera relating to Tibet'. A proof copy of Sir Basil's 1957 book, The Jewel in the Lotus: Recollections of an Indian Political, which detailed his time in Tibet, was also included in the lot. After a bidding war that lasted more than five minutes, the item was eventually won by an anonymous online bidder – for a final total of £14,080 once auction charges were added. Sonam Tsering Frasi, a former representative of the Dalai Lama to the UK and northern Europe, was among those who unsuccessfully attempted to secure the lot. Speaking to The Telegraph following the auction, Mr Frasi, 70, said: 'All of these archive materials are important to us as Tibetans because they belong to the Tibetan people and it relates to what happened before the Chinese people [came]. 'So this paper has an independent British government's thinking [and] attitude [about] what was happening on the ground in Lhasa.' He added: 'Tibet was an independent country. But that doesn't fit with the Chinese narrative.' Mr Frasi said: 'There was definitely a concern about trying to keep these out of Chinese hands because we don't know who is online bidding. 'My suspicion is that there were Chinese bidders and there might be lots of records in there that will show the thinking of British-India with regards to Tibet autonomy.' He added: 'These papers – the danger is that they would not surface at all or they would be spun around to say something else.' Bonhams does not reveal whom successful bidders are. A spokesman would not approach the winner on The Telegraph's behalf, saying this would have gone against its privacy rules.
