Union Cabinet approves pacts with Germany for solar energy

The Union Cabinet has approved an agreement with Germany to expand bilateral cooperation in the field of solar energy between both countries.
In this regard, Union Cabinet has approved a MoU which was signed in October 2015 between both countries during Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to India.
It was signed to expand bilateral development cooperation in the field of Solar Energy by increasing use of solar energy through technical and financial cooperation in India.
Under the agreement

• Germany will provide concessional loans to India in the range of 1 billion Euros over the next five years i.e. till 2020.
• Concessional loans will be provided through Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), a German government-owned development bank.
• The loan funds of KfW will be also utilized for providing soft loans to the end-users through partner banks.

The bilateral cooperation between the two countries will help India meet some part of its ambitious target generating 100 GW solar power generation capacity under the National Solar Mission (NSM) by 2022.
MoU for Capital Goods Sector
Union Cabinet also has approved MoU between India and Germany which has been signed for implementation of Make in India campaign for Capital Goods Sector.
It was signed between Department of Heavy Industries and Germany’s Fraunhofer Gesellschaft which is a leading organisation in Europe for applied industrial research.
The objective of MoU is to provide platform to various PSUs and capital goods sector units in order to have easy access to capabilities and expertise of Fraunhofer. It would help for identifying and plugging technology gaps in Indian PSUs in line with 12th Five Year Plan.

Month: Current Affairs - December, 2015