The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the launch of IREDA’s initial public offering (IPO) today, the 7^th of June 2017.

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) will issue 139 million equity shares priced at Rs.10 (~$0.16) each as part of its IPO. The shares will be issued for purchase by the public on book-building basis. The agency will issue shares to retail investors and its employees at a discount of 5 percent on the issue price of each share on book-building basis.

The government hopes that by increasing its equity base, it will enable IREDA to raise more debt to fund renewable energy projects. The move will also make the agency more visible in domestic and international markets.

The IREDA is a government company (public limited), established as a non-banking financial institution in 1987, engaged in promoting, developing, and extending financial assistance to renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Mercom previously reported, that the cabinet approved a raise of Rs.23.6 billion (~$364 million) from bonds for renewable energy development in the country. The bonds will be raised by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) through IREDA during FY2017-18.

This is the right move at the right time, stated an IREDA official. This year the government had slashed IREDA’s borrowing target by close to 34-35 percent. Now, we will be able to fund more projects as this IPO will infuse more funds into IREDA’s account, added the IREDA official.

Image credit: By Narendra Modi, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons