India has sought USD 500 million from the newly created, China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for solar power projects.”We have applied for USD 500 million funding from AIIB. Besides, USD 1 billion loans each from the World Bank and ADB has also been sought energy projects,” Tarun Kapur, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy told PTI.
India, one of the founding members of the AIIB, has been elected to the board of directors of the China-sponsored AIIB which is expected to begin loan approvals before the end of this year.The government is also negotiating USD 250 million loan from New Development Bank.All these are at advanced stage, he said.
Last year, the Cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and Germany to expand bilateral development cooperation in the field of Solar Energy by increasing use of solar energy in India through technical as well as financial cooperation.Under the agreement, Germany would provide concessional loans in the range of one billion Euros over the next five years through KfW.
The funds of KfW will also be utilised for providing soft loans to the end-users through partner banks. The MoU will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.India has set an ambitious target of having 100 GW solar power generation capacity by 2022 under the National Solar Mission.
Source:PTI
