India & US Shore Up Partnership to Anchor $500 Mn RE Infrastructure Investment Fund

India & US Shore Up Partnership to Anchor $500 Mn RE Infrastructure Investment Fund

A joint investment fund of up to $1 billion to aid India’s initiatives aimed at the adoption of green technology has got the nod from US President Joe Biden and Narendra Modi.

In an initiative that will strengthen India-US bilateral relationship in the renewable energy space, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the US Development Finance Corporation have partnered by way of Letters of Intent (LoIs). As per the agreement, each country will put up $500 million to anchor a Renewable Infrastructure Investment Fund. This announcement follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA in June 2023.

Further, the two countries will also shore up a payment security mechanism involving public as well as private funds to enable the acquisition of electric buses that are made in India. The fund strives to bring down the capital cost while augmenting the deployment of greenfield renewable energy, battery storage along with emerging green technology projects in India, such as Green Hydrogen, which is being pushed by the Indian Government. Earlier this year, the Green Hydrogen Mission for India got a shot in the arm with the formal approval of INR 17,490 crore by the Union Cabinet. An amount if INR 3760 crore as viability gap funding for battery storage capacity of 4000 MWh slated for 2030-31.

The US-India partnership seems to be gaining a stronger footing as recently, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and the US Department of Energy also launched the new US-India Renewable Energy Technology Action Platform (RETAP) under the Strategic Clean Energy Partnership.