NHPC Ltd., India’s largest hydropower company, is in talks with three of Japan’s biggest banks to help fund its expansion into solar power. NHPC wants to borrow as much as 50 billion rupees ($609 million) in yen-denominated loans and is in talks with Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation, finance director Rajendra Prasad Goyal said.
The company expects yen-denominated debt to be cheaper than domestic loans. This is critical for the highly competitive solar market in India, where NHPC is building out 1.2 gigawatts of solar projects to widen its green energy portfolio. “Foreign lenders are inclined to fund solar,” Goyal said in an interview. “We are trying to avail of that opportunity.”
