There’s some good news on the financing front, with IDBI Bank raising $350 million through green bond issue.
Green bonds, by providing incentives such as tax exemptions to those invest in them, could make lenders such as IDBI provide renewable energy financing at a lower interest rate than those prevailing in India, as these green bonds are usually purchased by international players who could be quite OK with low interests.
How much of the money raised by IDBI will flow into solar is unclear, but it should not be surprising if a significant chunk is, as it is mainly solar and wind power sectors that are showing significant growth in India right now.
IDBI has been one of the leading investors into renewable energy projects for quite some time, though most of their investments had happened in the wind sector, and perhaps a bit into biomass. Solar must be relatively recent for the Bank, but should grow into one of its, or the, largest renewable energy sector for its lending activities soon.
