NABARD signs US$100m pact with UN fund

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), a state-owned finance development institution, has signed a US$100 million financing deal with Green Climate Fund (GCF) to promote rooftop solar power projects across the country.

GCF, a fund established by the United Nations to finance projects to counter climate change, will infuse the funds into a US$250 million project to expand solar power capacity that will be executed by private sector entity Tata Cleantech Capital, which is a joint venture between Tata Capital and International Finance Corporation.

The line of credit to help build rooftop solar projects in commercial, industrial and residential sectors is part of NABARD’s initiative to use private companies to meet the government of India’s renewable energy targets.

NABARD is the national implementing entity for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) promoted fund that was set up to help developing nations respond to climate change.

Talwar Thakore & Associates (TTA) advised GCF on the Reserve Bank of India regime around multilateral financing, and also on the ability of NABARD to utilize the funds.

The TTA team was led by partner Sonali Mahapatra and associate Neeti Bhatt. Linklaters was the other legal adviser. The Linklaters team comprised partner Narayan Iyer, associates Atish Sha and Joy Li.