SIDBI to facilitate greening of MSMEs

New Delhi, Feb 8 (KNN) Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has set up a dedicated vertical with an objective to increase the resilience of MSME sector to combat climate change and with a view to facilitate greening of MSMEs. 

This is in line with the country’s commitments at Conference of Parties (COP26) at Glasgow.

SIDBI brought regulators and key stakeholders (domestic and international) in a recently concluded international virtual conference on ‘Greening Indian Financial System’. 

It partnered with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation. 

SIDBI has embarked on launching a Green Finance Scheme (which shall have funding corpus and Risk sharing facility window as well) to support green projects in the MSME sector as aligned to national thrust including renewable energy, Electric Vehicle charging stations, battery swap, waste management projects, CBG etc. 

A window for financing high impact innovative technology and climate change projects which have reached the product prototype stage and appear to have high potential for impact has since been set up. 

The assistance in the form of term loan shall be supported at Rs 25 lakh per project. The cost involved in activities, fees, etc. required for obtaining approval, certifications, etc. before commencement of commercial operations of such projects may also be covered.

SIDBI is an accredited agency of Green Climate Fund and is poised to channelize funds for fostering green investments by itself, through its partners as also render project management support to other institutions desirous of complementing the climate change agenda. 

SIDBI has started a project “Swachh Kashi, Swavalambi Kashi” wherein in Varanasi plastic bottle vending machine linked to formalized rag pickers, waste recycling unit as also to nearest Swavalambis is under implementation. It shall be followed by a similar step in Delhi. 

Through its TIFAC-SIDBI (Srijan) Programme SIDBI is facilitating concessional loans upto Rs.200 lakh per project at an interest rate in the range of 3-5% p.a. to the MSMEs/Startups.

SIDBI has refreshed the corpus of the End to End Energy Efficiency (4E) Scheme which is channelized in joint collaboration with the World Bank. The streamlined 4E shall support more and more energy efficiency and solar projects with quicker dispensation. 

Term loans of upto Rs 300 lakh are being offered at interest rates between 4.90% - 7% p.a. for eligible projects. 

SIDBI has been supporting the evolving market for Energy Service Companies (ESCO) through financial support backed by Risk sharing Facility. Presently 13 institutions are partners in this endeavor. 

Project has supported 40 ESCO projects with a cumulative investment of Rs 450 crore and leading to annual energy savings of 205 GWH and annual emission reduction of 1,52,300 tons of CO2. 

SIDBI shall continue to deepen its reach through financial and technical support to the energy efficiency projects being implemented in Municipalities, Buildings, Hotels, Hospitals, MSMEs, Large industries, Distribution Companies etc. 

The Union Budget 2022 also provides a policy push for climate action, clean energy, Solar, e-mobility, battery, waste management, energy efficiency through Energy Service Companies. (KNN Bureau)