India has approved a 174.9 billion rupee ($2.11 billion) stimulus plan to promote green hydrogen in an effort to cut emissions and become a major exporter in the area, the country's information minister Anurag Thakur said Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The move aims to help India, one of the world's biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, achieve zero carbon emissions by 2070.

The incentive aims to make green hydrogen affordable and reduce its cost over the next five years, the minister told reporters. Last month, the agency reported on India's plans to create a green hydrogen incentive program.

The government expects to invest 8 trillion Indian rupees ($96.65 billion) in the green hydrogen sector, Thakur said.

India aims to produce 5 million tons of green hydrogen a year over the next five years, cut about 50 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and save one trillion rupees on fossil fuel imports, Thakur added.

The United States and the European Union have already approved billions of dollars in incentives for green hydrogen projects.

Hydrogen, produced by splitting water through an electrical process called electrolysis, can be used as fuel. If the devices that do this - electrolysers - run on renewable energy, the product is called green hydrogen.

Currently, the cost of producing green hydrogene in India is between 300 and 400 rupees per kilogram, according to industry sources.

Indian companies such as Reliance Industries, Indian Oil, NTPC, Adani Enterprises, JSW Energy, ReNew Power and Acme Solar have big plans for green hydrogen production.