Mumbai: Technip Energies, a French provider of engineering and technology services to the energy industry, is opening a research and development centre in India besides expanding its workforce in the country which it sees at the forefront of the global shift towards green hydrogen."India is the country where we are signing the largest projects around green hydrogen and green ammonia. It is the geography and the country where, for us, green ammonia and green hydrogen are taking off," said Arnaud Pieton, chief executive officer, Technip Energies. "So, we see India clearly as being on the forefront of the green hydrogen economy." Technip Energies, which has been operational in India for about five decades, said it has accelerated investments in the country in the past four years. He declined to elaborate. During the period, the company doubled its workforce. It is now considering adding 500-1,000 employees to the current 4,600-strong employee base in India in the next year. "We are also investing in setting up a research and innovation centre at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Research Park. It adds to Technip Energies three labs across Europe and the US," said Pieton, adding that the company is focused on energy transition and decarbonisation.Technip Energies India manages and handles contracts of $500 million to $1 billion. India contributes 15% to the group's global annual intake and teams in India are involved in all major international projects.The company sees sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) as an equal source of opportunity for growth in India as the country has ample feedstock and the ability to produce ethanol from multiple bio-sources.