A recent press report said that Reliance Power has received Reserve Bank of India’s approval for raising $2.2 billion loan from the US and Chinese banks, for the 3,960 mw-Sasan power project in Madhya Pradesh.
Reports said that $1.1 billion would be offered by Chinese banks, including Bank of China, China Development Bank and Export Import Bank of China. It said that the funding from Chinese banks are the first-ever project financing done by Chinese banks.
Reports said that the Export Import Bank of United States has also approved funding of $917 million for the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP). Mr. J. P. Chalasani, CEO, Reliance Power said that the company is happy that the financial institutions in the US and China are confident about the company’s power generation business. He also said that the institutions were willing to provide long-term loans in spite of the challenging global conditions. He added saying that the lending has reduced the company’s cost of debt and has widened the source of funding for the Sasan project.
Reports said that the project is being executed by Sasan Power, a fully-owned subsidiary of Reliance Power. It also said that Sasan project has also received $150 million funding from other sources, and that its power project is expected to be commissioned by January 2013.