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NEW DELHI : Energy-hungry India is considering setting up an 11-billion-dollar fund to help finance the expansion of power companies' generation capacities, the country's power secretary said Thursday.
India has set ambitious goals for expanding its installed generation capacity, which currently stands at about 164 gigawatts, to combat frequent power cuts in cities and provide millions of rural households with electricity.
However, funding for power generation expansion remains a challenge.
"There are thoughts of setting up a debt fund. It's at a planning stage," India's power secretary P. Uma Shankar told reporters on the sidelines of an industry event in New Delhi.
Shankar said the fund would total 500 billion rupees (11 billion dollars).
India has set a target to add 62 gigawatts (GW) over five years to March 2012 and another 100 GW from April 2012 to March 2017.
India's federal government usually sets macroeconomic goals for five-year periods. The current five-year period ends on March 31, 2012.
Earlier, a panel set up by the Planning Commission, the government's top think-tank, recommended setting up an 11-billion-dollar infrastructure fund to build ports, roads, airports and telecommunication networks.
The power secretary said the electricity sector fund would be in addition to the planned infrastructure fund.
- AFP /ls
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