Saatvik Solar taps offshore lenders, PE firms for $263 mn funding

By Reuters

  • 26 Sep 2024

India's Saatvik Solar is in talks with international lenders to fund its 22 billion rupees ($263 million) expansion plan over the next two years, its chief financial officer Abani Jha said on Thursday.

The company, which owns 3.8 gigawatt (GW) solar modules capacity, plans to set up 2 GW solar cells manufacturing

capability in the next two years, costing 20 billion rupees, he said.

Saatvik Solar is in talks with international lenders such as French development agency Proparco and the Asian Development Bank, Jha said, adding that it will also seek partnerships with private equity funds.

Saatvik Solar wants to double the solar cell making capacity by 2027, he said.

The company would list its shares in the next few years, he said.

An increasing number of Indian renewable energy-linked companies are looking to tap public markets to raise funds for their expansion projects and gain from booming stock markets.

The government has set a target to add 500 GW of clean energy by 2030 to reduce carbon emissions.

Between July and September, ACME Solar, PMEA Solar Tech Solutions and NTPC Green Energy filed draft papers with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for initial public offerings.

Last week, state-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India announced plans to go public in the next one to two years.

India's benchmark Nifty 50 index has hit record highs over 50 times this year, with nearly 200 companies, including e-scooter maker Ola Electric OLAE.NS and telecom operator Bharti Hexacom, raising billions.

As of mid September, 235 companies had raised $8.66 billion, more than double in the same period last year, LSEG data showed.