IREDA to raise MSME participation in renewable energy by offering more loans

The Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has announced that it is committed to heighten the participation of Micro, Medium and Small Enterprises (MSMEs) in the green energy sector by offering more loans. The announcement was made by its Chairman and Managing Director Pradip Kumar Das while speaking at the MSME Banking Conclave 2022.

The conclave was organised by MSME Business Forum India where the Union Minister of State for Finance, Bhagwat Karad praised the efforts of the IREDA in taking the renewable energy development in the country to new heights.

Pradip Kumar Das stated that while MSMEs only represent 1.86 per cent of the company’s total loan assets of Rs. 33,884 crores, IREDA is attempting to address the issues of MSMEs in order to increase their participation in the renewable energy sector. He emphasised that the target of 500 GW of Renewable Energy capacity by 2030 cannot be achieved without the considerable participation of MSMEs and therefore, MSME’s efforts will be a crucial driver of Aatmnirbhar Bharat.

The CMD further said that he is quite confident that India will easily achieve the target of 50 per cent share of energy from non-fossil fuels and also the 500 GW Renewable Energy capacity before the deadline of 2030 set by the Prime Minister.

A major barrier for MSMEs entrepreneurs is the inability to getting loans with reasonable interest rates, but IREDA has significantly improved the “ease of doing business” in terms of faceless loan sanctions and disbursements, reduction in loan sanction, documentation and disbursement cycle and increased geographical footprint in the country, added CMD, IREDA.

Das also highlighted that despite of second and third waves of COVID pandemic, IREDA has reported historic all-time high annual Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs. 634 Crores and Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 834 Crores in the financial year 2021-22, registering a massive growth of 82 per cent and 46 per cent respectively over financial 2020-21.

The CMD reaffirmed that the company is committed to addressing the adverse effects of climate change and reducing pollution levels by reducing CO2 emissions through financing support for the RE projects.