KfW to lend Rs 656 crore to Rural Electrification Corpn
KfW has agreed to lend Rs 656 crore to Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). The latest loan will be used by REC to finance renewable energy projects in India at concessional interest rates. Rural Electrification Corporation has sanctioned loans worth
Rs 50,000 crore and disbursed loans estimated at around Rs 25,000 crore in the current fiscal. REC is borrowing from a foreign lender to tide over the acute shortage of funds that power firms are facing. The power sector, which is struggling with funding issues, needs around $400 billion of investment during the 12th Plan (2012-17). REC which along with Power Finance Corporation (PFC) accounts for around 60 per cent of the lending to the power sector has also formulated guidelines for lending to renewable energy projects for the first time.