Punjab National Bank has received $100 million from the Asian Development Bank as the first tranche of the development bank’s multi-million-dollar funding for installation of rooftop solar systems in India. The bank will use this funding to provide loans to developers and end users to install large solar rooftop systems on industrial and commercial buildings throughout India. ADB will be sanctioning $500 million finance facility for Solar Rooftop Investment Program (SRIP) approved by the bank in 2016. Nearly $330 million of this funding will come from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and $170 million from the multi-donor Clean Technology Fund. The entire cost of SRIP is estimated at $1 billion and it aims to install solar rooftop system of around 1 gigawatt capacity in India. The program will contribute to Indian government’s plans to increase solar power generation capacity and also help it meet the carbon emission reduction target in line with its commitment at the recent global climate change agreement.
