Mumbai: Serentica Renewables has announced on Monday the signing of its first international and commercial bank foreign currency loan worth Rs 3,500 crore (US$425 million) for its Round-The-Clock (RTC) renewable energy (RE) project in India. The transaction brings together a consortium of three international banks (Rabobank, MUFG Bank, Société Générale) and three Indian lenders (YES Bank, Export-Import Bank of India, India Infrastructure Finance Company) in a historic first for the Indian corporate offtake market, said a statement issued by Serentica Renewables. Rabobank acted as the sole structuring bank for this loan facility.
This landmark deal will help Serentica in funding the development of its 530 MW hybrid (wind and solar) renewable energy project coming up in Rajasthan and Maharashtra. This project will provide clean energy to one of India's largest zinc producers, Hindustan Zinc, replacing 24% of their coal-based power supply with firm dispatchable green power while significantly reducing their carbon footprint.
Commenting on the milestone, Pratik Agarwal, Chairman, Serentica Renewables, said, “We thank our banking partners, who have trusted us with the first ever dollar loan for a C&I project in India. We will work harder to build on this trust.”
Amardeep Parmar, Head – Project Finance Asia, Rabobank, said, “Rabobank is pleased to lead and structure this landmark renewable transaction in the C&I segment. We look forward to partnering with Serentica in their future energy transition endeavours.”
"Serentica is committed to developing 4 GW of renewable energy capacities across the country to deliver round-the-clock green energy needs of its customers. The overall portfolio will supply more than 9 BUs of clean energy annually, offsetting 8.5 million tonnes of CO2. Serentica’s vision is to supply over 40 billion units of clean energy annually in the medium term and displace 37 million tonnes of CO2 emissions," said the statement.
The capital infusion comes close on the heels of another debt raising of Rs 5,600 crore that the company secured from power sector majors PFC and REC recently.