Japan's Softbank, Bharti JV for $20bn Indian solar project

Japan's telecom and internet major SoftBank Corp on Monday announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises and Foxconn Technology Group to set up a $20 billion solar power project in India designed to add 20 gigawatts of generation capacity.

"The total project cost is $20 billion and designed to further Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of achieving 100 GW solar power, which he told me about in Tokyo," SoftBank chairman Masayoshi Son told reporters here.

Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: "Softbank will be the project leader with majority stake, while Bharti will be a strategic minority shareholder. Foxconn Technology will have a smaller minority stake."

"As a leading global technology company, Foxconn is committed to fulfilling our social and environmental responsibilities (SER) and investing in areas that link technology with sustainable growth," said Terry Gou, chief executive Foxconn Technology, which is the largest exporter out of China, accounting for five percent of exports.

The newly-formed joint venture, SBG Cleantech, to be headquartered here, will have Manoj Kohli, earlier Airtel Africa chief executive, as executive chairman and Raman Nanda, as its CEO.

"India has two times the sunshine that of Japan.

"The cost of construction of the solar park is half of Japan. Twice the sunshine, half the cost, that means four times the efficiency," said Son.

He said the timeline for investments would depend on the central and the state governments concerned, as well as on acquiring land needed for the projects.

--Indo-Asian News service

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