Davos [Switzerland], January 22 : Naitik Vyas, Director of H2Earth Green Energy Pvt Ltd, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, said that his company plans to set up a silicon metal plant in India.
Notably, silicon is a critical input for the semiconductor industry.
Vyas had a meeting with Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday, who holds the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Vyas, after the meeting with Vaishnaw, told ANI, "(the meeting) has been very, very encouraging. He (Vaishnaw) has asked us to submit a detailed progress report to him and he promised us a lot of subsidies and a lot of support and help from the government. We are already starting this project in Saudi Arabia because the Saudi Arabia government was very keen on doing this project and I think India is the right place."
"Being originally an Indian, I would like to invest. It's a large investment and it will create a lot of jobs and it will work very well with our PM's vision of Atmanirbharta," he said.
One of Ashwini Vaishnaw's pet projects is to develop the semiconductor industry in India.
"You cannot have a semiconductor without silicon and right now 90 per cent or 95 per cent of the supplies of silicon, silicon metal are basically monopolized by China," Vyas further said, explaining the criticality of the metal. "So there's a severe threat to the Indian semiconductor industry that if we do not produce our own silicon metal, then we are still going to be in the hands of China to produce our semiconductors."
During the day, Vyas also had a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, where they discussed a major investment for a green hydrogen plus green ammonia plant.
"We just finished our meeting with CM Fadnavis and again his excellency was very encouraging. Our other investment that we are doing, a major investment is going to be India's first green hydrogen plus green ammonia plant," Vyas told ANI.
"It will be the first plant in India on a commercial capacity. It will be set up in Maharashtra, most likely in the Ratnagiri-Palghar area."
Vyas said his company has signed a technology tie-up with a large Spanish company, which is into green hydrogen and green ammonia production.
"CM really appreciated was the actual tech transfer because most European companies do not allow for tech transfer," Vyas said. "We are always dependent on them for technology but this time we have negotiated a tech transfer so that actually the technology and the plant will be made in India from top to bottom."
The initial investment is going to be around Rs 2000 crores or about USD 250 million, he said, adding that, "as the investment grows in the next three to four years, we expect it to go to more than a billion dollars."
Asked about the timeline of the project, he said, "So we have already started the feasibility report and Minister Fadnavis has supported us very thoroughly. He has asked us to also visit him in Maharashtra with the progress report so that he can actually do the tie-ups with us."
H2Earth focuses on three key areas: the generation of Green Ammonia and Green Hydrogen, Renewable Power Generation, and Wastewater Management.
The Annual Meeting 2025 of The World Economic Forum is taking place at Davos-Klosters from 20th to 24th January 2025. India Pavilion at the 55th World Economic Forum (WEF) annual conference 2025 in Davos, Switzerland, features eight states, each seeking investment opportunities from executives of companies worldwide.
Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and West Bengal are the states which have established their presence at WEF, 2025.
Davos 2025 convenes under 'Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.'
India has sent its largest-ever delegation to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos, comprising five union ministers and three state chief ministers. Nearly 100 CEOs and leaders from government, civil society, and the arts are also in attendance at the event.
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