India to set up $11 billion energy infrastructure investment fund

India is the world's third-largest energy consumer, and the proposed fund would go toward the construction of power-generation facilities and to bolster the capacity of existing energy companies. "There are thoughts of setting up a debt fund. It is at a planning stage," India's Power Secretary P. Uma Shankar told media. "The fund will give headroom for lending to meet the requirement. We are still studying how to create the fund. We have to see how we can get in investors."

Discussion surrounding the fund has been prompted by India's robust infrastructure industry, as an increase in major projects has taken its toll on India's energy resources. According to reports, blackouts in the country are not unusual, and as India experienced the largest growth spurt in two and a half years for the three months ending June 30, the demand for power has rocketed.

Last month, the Blackstone Group also verified its focus on India's power sector, announcing that it may pump $1 billion into the industry, coming off the back of its $300 million investment in energy developer Moser Baer Projects.

 

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• Topics
• Infrastructure
• South Asia
• Secondaries
• Fundraising
• The Blackstone Group