India govt approves INR-23.6bn bond raising for renewables

India's government has approved the raising of INR 23.6 billion (USD 366m/EUR 325m) in bonds for renewable energy, the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) said on Wednesday.

The bonds will be sold by MNRE through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) during the 2017/18, the ministry added. This is the unused balance of an allocation to IREDA for the fiscal year 2016/17.

MNRE will use the funds "in the approved programmes/schemes for solar park, green energy corridor, generation-based incentives for wind projects, CPSU [central public sector undertaking] and defence solar projects, viability gap funding for solar projects, roof-top solar, off-grid/grid-distributed and decentralized renewable power, investment in corporations and autonomous bodies etc."

The government had declared additional finance mobilisation of INR 313 billion in bonds in the budget for fiscal year 2016/17, including INR 40 billion allocated to IREDA, the MNRE said. Out of this allocation, INR 16.4 billion had been raised and the MNRE had approached the cabinet to approve raising the balance INR 23.6 billion.

(INR 100 = USD 1.549/EUR 1.378)

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