Finance Ministry calls for meet on July 18 on financing issues of solar module manufacturers

Renewable energy has been a key priority for the current government.

The Finance Ministry has called for a meeting on July 18 with the stakeholders of the solar photovoltaic (PV) sector and banks to discuss the financing issues faced by the industry and give a boost to the sector.

“The meeting on financing solar module manufacturers and renewable energy developers will be held under the chairmanship of Financial Services Secretary Vivek Joshi on July 18,” a person familiar with the development told Moneycontrol.

The meeting will be attended by senior officials of the ministry of new and renewable energy. Public sector banks’ heads of State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India and Bank of Baroda will attend the meet.

Chairman and Managing Directors of Solar Energy Corporation of India, Power Finance Corporation, REC Ltd, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency will also be a part of this high-level meeting. Presidents of North India Module Manufacturers Association and Indian Solar Manufacturers Association have also been invited for the meeting, he said.

The meeting will discuss the challenges faced by the sector towards financing of projects and any reservations of the banking sector are also likely to be addressed. Growth of solar and giving easy to service working capital loans for project development is likely to be discussed, he said.

Renewable energy has been a key priority for the current government. An Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research and Analytics report says that India will become the second largest PV manufacturing country after China in three years.

The government has said that by April 2026, India will have 48 gigawatts (GW) of annual production capacity of “Made in India” solar photovoltaic (PV) modules and will touch 100 GW. India currently already has about 22.4 GW of module manufacturing.

India has set an ambitious target of having 500 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, for which the government has decided to award 50 GW of renewable energy projects every year starting FY 2024. Until now, the country has managed to add a maximum of about 15 GW annually.