Aryavart Gramin Bank:
Aryavart Gramin Bank, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) is a regional rural bank. The bank uses solar photovoltaic (PV) systems from Tata BP Solar to back-up the unreliable grid power for some of its branches and recognised the potential of PV for its many off-grid customers in rural areas. The Bank finances Tata BP Solar Venus Lights with easy finance loans. The bank has been working in 6 districts across UP spreading awareness about solar power systems. The Bank has held service camps, awareness programmes and village meetings to promote Solar lights which have been priced affordably. The villagers pay a small amount to the bank to get the solar lights installed. The bank finances the remaining amount which is paid back by the beneficiary in monthly installments over three to five years. The bank appoints village promoters who are paid Rs 500/-per 100 lights per month as incentive. The promoters are responsible for both maintaining the lights as well as collecting the money. They are paid a bonus of Rs 4000/- at the end of the year if they meet their targets. The Bank has financed more than 8000 lights.
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http://www.uneptie.org/energy/activities/islp/
Indian Solar Loan Programme
A four-year $7.6 million effort was launched in April 2003 to help accelerate the market for financing solar home systems in southern India. The project is a partnership between UNEP Energy Branch,UNEP Risoe Centre (URC)
, two of India's major banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, and their sponsored Grameen banks.
India's solar PV manufacturing sector has grown significantly since the 1990s, mostly for export, however the market for solar home systems has been slow to develop, in part due to a lack of consumer financing options. The aim of this effort is to help Canara bank and Syndicate bank develop lending portfolios specifically targeted at financing solar home systems (SHS). With the support of the UN Foundation and Shell Foundation, the project provides an interest rate subsidy to lower the cost to customers of SHS financing.
Indian banks are these days keen to develop new loan products and the partnership with UNEP allows them to do so in a growing clean energy sector. An interest subsidy helps them to build solar financing portfolios without distorting the credit risk - sometimes a problem with guarantees - or the existing cash market for solar home systems. Five solar vendors completed the programmes' qualification process, making their customer eligible for financing. About 20,000 loans were disbursed through large number of branches of these banks.
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http://www.uneptie.org/energy/activities/islp/
Indian Solar Loan Programme
A four-year $7.6 million effort was launched in April 2003 to help accelerate the market for financing solar home systems in southern India. The project is a partnership between UNEP Energy Branch,UNEP Risoe Centre (URC)
, two of India's major banking groups - Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank, and their sponsored Grameen banks.India's solar PV manufacturing sector has grown significantly since the 1990s, mostly for export, however the market for solar home systems has been slow to develop, in part due to a lack of consumer financing options. The aim of this effort is to help Canara bank and Syndicate bank develop lending portfolios specifically targeted at financing solar home systems (SHS). With the support of the UN Foundation and Shell Foundation, the project provides an interest rate subsidy to lower the cost to customers of SHS financing.
Indian banks are these days keen to develop new loan products and the partnership with UNEP allows them to do so in a growing clean energy sector. An interest subsidy helps them to build solar financing portfolios without distorting the credit risk - sometimes a problem with guarantees - or the existing cash market for solar home systems. Five solar vendors completed the programmes' qualification process, making their customer eligible for financing. About 20,000 loans were disbursed through large number of branches of these banks.
Bank of Maharashtra and SEWA Bank also have programmes for solar finance.
