On Thursday, April 4, 2019, the U.S.-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) initiative, India’s first project preparation facility to scale up distributed solar power projects and drive long-term financing, signed on a new partner, PTC India Financial Services Limited (PFS). PFS is a Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) registered with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in New Delhi.

USICEF is managed by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) and was founded in 2017 in partnership with the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, OPIC, IREDA, and leading U.S. Foundations. USICEF supports early-stage projects to scale up, de-risk and become investment-ready. It leverages public and philanthropic funds to catalyze private investment into distributed clean energy in India.

In just over two years, USICEF has identified 25 promising distributed solar power projects across more than 18 states in India and deployed a total of $3.5 million in grant-based funding to these projects.

PFS has sanctioned and processed three distributed solar power projects with an aggregate debt amount of ₹242 crore, of which approximately ₹39 crore is outstanding in the books. The company is actively looking at new distributed solar power proposals being implemented by reputed developers under various schemes. As part of this search, PFS has partnered with USICEF to leverage these funds for the most promising, investment-ready distributed solar projects in India.

“As one of the pioneers in the clean energy space, we have been actively exploring new opportunities in distributed solar,” said Dr. Pawan Singh, Managing Director & CEO, PFS. “The PFS family is delighted to be a part of the USICEF initiative, an innovative facility which presents us with an opportunity to finance and deploy high-impact development projects which can contribute in achieving India’s distributed energy target of 40 GW by 2022.”

“Distributed solar energy is critical for India’s clean energy transition,” added Dr. Dhruba Purkayastha, USICEF Director at Climate Policy Initiative. “With PFS’s support, we hope to create an even bigger impact.”

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About US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF)
US-India Clean Energy Finance (USICEF) aims to drive access to energy in underserved regions of India by supporting early stage development of distributed solar power projects. A partnership between the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), and a consortium of foundations, USICEF provides project preparation support that will catalyze long-term debt financing for distributed solar power from OPIC, IREDA, Tata Cleantech Capital, IndusInd Bank, and from now PTC India Financial Services Limited, and other international financial institutions. Climate Policy Initiative serves as the Program Manager.

About PTC India Financial Services Limited (PFS)
PTC Financial Services Limited (PFS) is a systemically important non-deposit taking NBFC classified as “Infrastructure Finance Company (IFC)” by RBI and is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange Limited and the National Stock Exchange of India Limited. PFS is structured as a ‘one-stop shop’ for financing of energy value chain and select sectors of infra projects like power, road, port, logistics etc. with focus on renewable energy and sustainable development. The USP of PFS lies in its ability to undertake risk analysis of projects and add value by mitigating those while structuring the financial product in an expeditious timeframe following a highly professional approach and that’s the reason why we are valued by our developers and considered as a most preferred financial partner.  We are one of the distinctive financial institutions in India that provide both equity and debt financing, including short-term and long-term debt, as well as structured debt financing.

About Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)
With deep expertise in finance and policy, CPI is an analysis and advisory organization that works to improve the most important energy and land use practices around the world. Our mission is to help governments, businesses, and financial institutions drive economic growth while addressing climate change. CPI has six offices around the world in Brazil, Kenya, India, Indonesia, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

CONTACT:
Angel Jacob, (USICEF, CPI)
angel.jacob@cpidelhi.org, +91 11 65445513

Nidhi Dahiya, (PTC India Financial Services Limited )
nidhi.dahiya@ptcfinancial.com, +91 11 2673 7459