Govt okays raising of Rs 2,360 cr through bonds for renewable energy projects

The government on Wednesday approved raising of Rs 2,360 crore through bonds for renewable energy projects in the current fiscal.

"The Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval to raising of bonds of Rs 2,360 crore for renewable energy," Ministry of New and Renewable Energy said in a statement.

The bonds will be raised by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) through the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) during the 2017-18, the statement said.

The funds raised would be used by MNRE in the approved programmes/schemes for solar park, green energy corridor, generation-based incentives for wind projects, CPSU and defence solar projects, viability gap funding for solar projects, roof-top solar, off-grid/grid-distributed and decentralised renewable power, investment in corporations and autonomous bodies among others.

The government had declared additional finance mobilisation of Rs 31,300 crore bonds through NHAI, PFC, REC, IREDA and IWAI in the budget for FY 2016-17. As a part of this, the government had allocated Rs 4,000 crore to IREDA to raise "GOI fully serviced taxable Bonds" on behalf of the MNRE during the FY 2016-17. Out of this allocation, IREDA had raised Rs 1,640 crore as per the requirement of MNRE.

The MNRE subsequently approached the Cabinet to approve raising of the balance Rs 2,360 crore.