New Delhi – The India Innovation Lab for Green Finance has selected four new ideas for green finance instruments to move forward for development in the next phase of its inaugural year. Lab Members, consisting of experts from government, finance, renewable energy, and infrastructure, met on 22 February in New Delhi to vote on four ideas showing the most potential to drive more private investment and leverage public finance for India’s green growth targets, out of a list of 61 strong ideas that were submitted through an open call for ideas.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy Joint Secretary Mr. Tarun Kapoor announced the winning ideas at the meeting, and applauded the swift progress made by the India Lab since its November 2015 launch.

The four winning ideas are:

• Loans4SME: A peer to peer lending platform to help small and medium enterprises operating in renewable energy and energy efficiency raise debt finance, using a credit rating algorithm that could significantly expand investment sources. The idea proponent is Aurus Lending Solutions.
• Rooftop Solar Private Sector Financing Facility: A facility to provide debt financing for rooftop solar PV projects that provide power to private sector offtakers using an aggregation and securitisation model. The idea proponents are the IFC and Azure Power.
• P50 Risk Solutions: A facility to reduce the cost and increase the amount of long-term debt for renewable energy projects by transferring resource risk from banks to insurers through a blending of commercial and donor capital. The idea proponents are P50 Risk Managers and Swiss Re Corporate Solutions.
• Renewable Energy Integrated Hedging, Equity and Debt Fund: A fund to facilitate large-scale international institutional investment into renewable energy by managing currency risk and aligning the cost of capital with risk profile during and post construction. The idea proponent is RR Corporate Ltd.

The ideas will now undergo further analysis, stress-testing, and design refinement, through June of 2016. After that, they could be endorsed by the India Lab and taken forward for piloting.

“Driving access to finance for renewable energy and energy efficiency is a key focus in 2016. The four green finance ideas chosen by the India Lab are an important step towards meeting this goal.”  – Krishan Dhawan, CEO, Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation and Host of the India Innovation Lab for Green Finance

“The four ideas chosen by the India Lab show significant potential to drive needed private investment to India’s renewable energy targets. The India Lab looks forward to refining and further developing these ideas, using the collective expertise of its Lab Members in policy, finance, and renewable energy development.” – Dr. Gireesh Shrimali, India Lab Secretariat and Director of Climate Policy Initiative in India

“I submitted my idea to mitigate currency risk and reduce the cost of debt funding to the India Lab because of its ability to bring together the most important and influential stakeholders in climate discussions from finance and government, both in India and internationally, to one platform.” – Ravindra Rathee, Principal, RR Corporate Ltd and idea proponent of the Integrated Hedging, Equity, and Debt Fund

“P50 Risk Managers and Robert Ashdown from Swiss Re Corporate Solutions submitted their concept to the India Innovation Lab for Green Finance because they believe that their innovative risk transfer solution for renewable energy projects will transform the way Indian banks look at resource risk, thereby increasing funding capacity. We see that this concept will have the catalytic effect of mobilising credit for the Indian energy market and creating a strong demonstration of how to deliver a greater volume of projects and MWs at highly competitive energy tariffs in other growth markets.” – Nigel Purse, P50 Risk Managers and one of the idea proponents of P50 Risk Solutions

“Indian SMEs often fall short of debt funds while developing their sustainable energy projects. We believe that Loans4SME has the potential to fill this critical market gap and catalyse debt investments into sustainable energy projects that would help India meet its obligations under Paris Agreement at COP 21 in December 2015.” – Simmi Sareen, Co-founder and idea proponent of Loans4SME                                                    

“An endorsement of our  idea by the India Innovation Lab for Green Finance will go a long way towards developing and implementing the idea on a large scale. We are looking forward to guidance and mentorship from the India Lab partners to further develop and implement the idea on a larger scale.” – Balawant Joshi, Co-founder and idea proponent of Loans4SME

“Our engagement with the Global Innovation Lab since its inception is testament to our shared enthusiasm for the success of the India Lab. We are glad that the proposal to advance what we believe is a scalable opportunity in rooftop solar systems to help achieve India’s stated targets for climate change mitigation has been selected. We are confident that the platform offered by the India Lab will help better address the barriers to tap this potential and create new opportunities for mobilizing needed capital.” – Vikram Widge, Head of Climate and Carbon Finance at IFC, World Bank Group

The India Innovation Lab for Green Finance is a new public-private initiative in India that aims to identify, develop, and accelerate innovative solutions to drive more investment for green growth in India. The India Lab has been endorsed by the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. It is hosted and funded by Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation, with additional financial support from the UK Government and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Climate Policy Initiative in Delhi serves as the Secretariat and analytical provider.