BackGovt plans to set up ₹50,000 crore power fund
Govt plans to set up ₹50,000 crore power fund
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New Delhi: India plans to set up a ₹ 50,000 crore debt ($10.74 billion) fund for the power sector, power secretary P. Uma Shankar said on Thursday. “There are thoughts of setting up a debt fund. It is at a planning stage," Shankar said.
The fund would be the latest in a series of recent government measures to overhaul India’s creaky infrastructure, long seen as a drag on growth in Asia’s third-largest economy.
A separate $11 billion debt fund for infrastructure has already been announced.
Shankar said an investment of ₹ 5 trillion was required to meet a target to build 100,000 mega watt (MW) generation capacity in 2012-2017.
India’s Planning Commission said in a recent report capacity shortages in the power sector could prevent India from achieving double-digit growth. The commission predicts India will likely add 62,000 MW of power capacity in the five years to 2012, short of a 78,000 MW target.
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