Cabinet nod to MoUs with Germany for solar energy, capital goods

The union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday gave post facto approval to two agreements with Germany to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of solar energy and in the capital goods sector, respectively.

"The union cabinet approved a Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed in October, 2015, between India and Germany, to expand bilateral development cooperation in the field of solar energy by increasing its use in India through technical as well as financial cooperation," an official release said.

Germany would provide concessional loans in the range of one billion Euros over the next five years through Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), it said.

The funds of KfW will also be utilized for providing soft loans to the end-users through partner banks, the release added.

The cabinet also approved another agreement with Germany to roll out the Make in India campaign for the capital goods sector.

A separate cabinet communique said the objective of the MoU between India's Department of Heavy Industries and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft of Germany is to provide a platform to various public sector undertakings and capital goods sector units to have easy access to capabilities and expertise of Fraunhofer for identifying and plugging technology gaps.

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is a leading organisation of 65 institutes for applied industrial research in Europe.