BRICS bank lends $250 million for India’s renewable energy scheme

Washington, April 15 

India is among the first four countries to get a loan from the newly established BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) which gave a $250 million funding to Canara Bank for a renewable energy project.

The China-based NDB has approved four green renewable energy projects from India, China, Brazil and South Africa entailing Bank financing of $811 million.

The India project entails provisioning of a multi-tranche loan of $250 million to Canara Bank for lending to renewable energy ventures.

The project will result in generation of 500 MWs of renewable energy and savings of about 800,000 tonnes of carbon emissions.

“New Development Bank sanctioned four loans including a loan of $250 million for a renewable energy scheme in India. Good beginning,” tweeted Shaktikanta Das, Secretary for Economic Affairs. This loan is the first such loan from the development financial institution, according to officials.

The New Development Bank was formed by the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) leadership with the objective of funding infrastructure projects in emerging economies and to meet the aspirations of hundreds of millions of people through sustainable development.

The NDB, which commenced operations in July, 2015, is headquartered in Shanghai and its initial authorised capital is $100 billion. 

Mulls over setting up bank institute, rating agency 

BRICS countries on Friday discussed the efficacy of “establishing” a bank institute and a rating agency of their own following the New Development Bank (NDB) becoming fully operational.

BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors met here on the sidelines of the Annual Spring meeting of the IMF and the World Bank, for a discussion chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. “It was decided that a technical working group would examine the issues in detail,” a statement said.

The findings of the technical group would be presented to BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors in their next meeting, it added.

During the meeting, Jaitley complimented K V Kamath, NDB president, and his team for the quick pace with which the bank has commenced its operations, a sentiment which was thereafter echoed by other members of the Board of Governors of NDB.

The Board of Governors of NDB noted that the bank has commenced operations through approval of its maiden projects on April 13. — PTI