The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has invested INR 4.86 billion (around $58.4 million) in India’s largest renewable energy Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT).
The InvIT, Sustainable Energy Infra Trust or SEIT, has eight operating solar power generation assets with a cumulative capacity of 1.54 GW DC located nationwide in India.
SEIT is co-sponsored by Mahindra Susten, the dedicated renewable energy platform of the Mahindra Group, and Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a global institutional investor.
“By supporting the formation of SEIT, the sponsors will have a channel to monetize investments in revenue-generating infrastructure assets, freeing up the much-needed capital to undertake their ambitious growth plan to develop new renewable energy assets,” stated AIIB.
“Support from multilateral development banks like AIIB will strengthen investors’ awareness of the asset class and comfort level. This is necessary for channeling broader sources of institutional capital and domestic retail savings to the infrastructure industry and scaling up such monetization tools.”
The project is AIIB’s second investment in InvITs in India, following a June 2019 investment of approximately USD50 million in Oriental Structural Engineers InvIT, the objective of which is to mobilize long-term private institutional capital for financing of roads and highways in India.