The European Investment Bank on Friday announced a euro 200 million (Rs.14 billion) longterm loan to State Bank of India to finance mega-solar projects in the country.
The loan will support a total investment of euro 650 million in five different large-scale photo-voltaic solar power projects for India’s National Solar Mission. Four schemes, with a generation capacity of 530MW have been identified for the purpose.
The loan was announced, ahead of the inauguration by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley of the EIB’s first permanent presence in India, by EIB President Werner Hoyer and Vice-President Andrew McDowell, responsible for the India and South Asia operations.
SBI Managing Director B. Sriram said that the new cooperation between SBI and EIB will scale up investment in large-scale solar power generation across India close cooperation between technical and financial teams from both institutions will ensure that world-class projects are supported.
The 20-year EIB loan, facilitated by SBI Capital Markets, will support individual solar power generation projects in Telangana, Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.
By Baishakhi Dutta
