ADB and Japan Finance One of the World's Largest Green Ammonia Plants in India
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Japan signed financing agreements with AM Green Ammonia (India) Private Limited on 15 October 2026.
The money will help convert a former ammonia and urea plant that ran on natural gas into a plant that makes green ammonia using renewable power. The plant at Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, will be able to produce about 1.1 million tonnes a year, making it one of the largest such plants in the world.
The package includes a $100 million loan from the Leading Asia's Private Infrastructure Fund 2 (LEAP 2), a fund financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and run by ADB.
It is the first investment under ACCEL (Action for Creating Energy Security for Long-term Resilience), a joint ADB-Japan initiative launched in May 2026 at the ADB Annual Meeting in Samarkand.
The project is meant to start a new export industry for India and also make a key fertiliser and industrial input with far lower carbon emissions.
Green Ammonia
Green ammonia is ammonia (NH3) made using green hydrogen, which is hydrogen produced by splitting water with electricity from renewable sources like solar and wind. Normal ammonia ("grey" ammonia) is made from natural gas or coal and releases a lot of carbon dioxide. Ammonia is the base of urea and most nitrogen fertilisers, and it can also be used as a clean fuel and as an easy way to ship hydrogen across the world.
The Kakinada plant is a direct case of switching from grey to green ammonia. It reuses an old gas-based fertiliser site, so it shows how existing industry can be cleaned up, and much of its output is planned for export, for example to Germany's Uniper.
National Green Hydrogen Mission (2023)
The National Green Hydrogen Mission is the Government of India's main programme to make India a global hub for producing, using and exporting green hydrogen and products made from it, like green ammonia. It was approved by the Union Cabinet on 4 January 2023, and the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) runs it. It gives money to build electrolysers (machines that split water) and to support early green hydrogen production.
Big export-oriented plants like Kakinada are central to the Mission's 2030 targets. Cheap, long-term foreign loans such as this ADB-Japan package lower the cost of these projects, which is the biggest hurdle for green hydrogen and ammonia today.
Asian Development Bank (ADB): Structure, Mandate, and India's Role
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank that lends money and gives advice to developing countries in Asia and the Pacific. Its aim is to reduce poverty and support growth that is inclusive, climate-friendly and sustainable. It is owned by 69 member countries and has its headquarters in Manila, Philippines. India is one of its founding members and one of its biggest borrowers.
The AM Green loan is a non-sovereign (private sector) loan from a Japan-funded trust fund that ADB manages. It shows how ADB uses its partners' money, here through the new ACCEL initiative, to back clean energy projects in India that private banks alone may see as too new or risky.
- Financing agreements signed: 15 October 2026 (ADB, Government of Japan and AM Green Ammonia (India) Pvt Ltd)
- Loan: $100 million from LEAP 2 (financed by JICA, administered by ADB)
- Plant capacity: about 1.1 million tonnes of green ammonia a year; Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh; converted from a former gas-based ammonia and urea plant
- First investment under ACCEL (Action for Creating Energy Security for Long-term Resilience), launched May 2026
- LEAP 2: up to $1.5 billion from JICA (signed December 2023); successor to LEAP (2016)
- Uniper (Germany) offtake agreement: up to 500,000 tonnes a year from AM Green's projects (January 2026)
- National Green Hydrogen Mission target: 5 MMT green hydrogen a year by 2030
- ADB: 69 members; India is the fourth-largest shareholder