Power Finance Corp to lend Rs 2.37 trillion to 20 clean energy projects

Power Finance Corporation (PFC) on Friday said it has entered into loan agreements worth more than Rs 2.37 lakh crore with 20 companies.

These firms include Adani Group, Greenco, ReNew Power, Continuum, Avaada, JBM Auto, Rajasthan Renewable Energy and Megha Engineering & Infrastructure, among others.

These agreements -- part of the Maharatna company's plan to position itself as the focal funding agency for energy transition -- were signed with companies in the solar, wind, green hydrogen, battery storage, and electric vehicles space as well as manufacturers of green energy equipment.

PFC is looking to fund projects like offshore wind, pumped hydro storage, solar modules and cells, among others in the clean energy space, the company said in a statement issued from Goa at a G20 function.

Recently, the company diversified its loan portfolio into infrastructure projects, such as refineries, ports, roads, metro, biofuels, waste-to-energy projects etc.

Earlier this week Parminder Chopra, the officiating chairman and managing director, said the state-run company is awaiting the Reserve Bank's nod to launch a subsidiary from the International Financial Services Centre in Gandhinagar.

In fiscal 2023, PFC's consolidated revenue stood at Rs 77,568.30 crore, up from Rs 76,261.66 crore a year ago from which the company earned a net income of Rs 21,178.6 crore against Rs 18,768.2 crore in the previous year.

As of March 2023, its loan book stood at Rs 4.32 lakh crore, of which Rs 3.2 lakh crore have been lent to state power companies and Rs 73,000 crore to private power companies.

During the same period, its outstanding borrowings stood at Rs 3.63 lakh crore of which 63 per cent are domestic bonds and USD7.2 billion are in overseas currencies primarily in dollars and euros.

Of the total disbursals, 78 per cent are to the conventional sector and almost 10 per cent are to the renewables, making PFC the largest player in these two segments.