Govt weighs indexing rupee debt with global currencies: Goyal

Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said on Thursday the government is considering permitting power firms to index rupee debt with global currencies to attract cheap loans from foreign banks.

“Some Japanese companies have also indicated that they would be interested in financing UMPPs if we could have some portion of tariff indexed to a basket of currencies or a particular currency, which could mean much larger financing from international sources at a lower rate of interest with longer tenure and cheaper power,” the minister said.

“Anything which helps me reduce power tariff, I am willing to consider.”

He was speaking to reporters in Tokyo on the sidelines of the 8th India Japan strategic energy dialogue.

The minister, during his meeting with Japanese financial institutions and banks, asked them to co-finance Indian power projects with the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and REC.

[Source:- business today]