EIB Vice President to sign deals for business financing & clean energy during India visit

New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): European Investment Bank (EIB) Vice-President Kris Peeters will make a four-day business visit to India this week to strengthen cooperation with Indian public and private sector partners and to discuss EIB support for clean energy investment and transport in the country.

The aim of the visit is to confirm the EIB’s commitment to future investment under the EU-India Connectivity Partnership, in support of the European Green Deal and the EU Global Gateway strategy, and in support of India’s own ambitious agenda on climate, renewable energy, connectivity and sustainable finance, in particular by supporting projects with strong climate action benefits.

Vice-President Peeters will visit the G20 Infrastructure Investors Dialogue (IID), where he will meet banking leaders. The G20 IID is an official G20 event organised during the third meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India. Vice-President Peeters will join a panel on “Catalysing sustainable finance for cities of tomorrow,” as a representative of the EIB, which heads the D20 Long-Term Investors Club. 

“The European Investment Bank, the EU bank, is committed to supporting transformational private and public investment across India, improving access to finance by entrepreneurs and addressing the challenges of a changing climate. India is a key country of operations for the EIB and hosts the EIB regional representation for South Asia. Over the last 30 years, the EIB has supported public and private sector investment in the country. My financial and technical colleagues and I look forward to discussing how to strengthen resilience to existing and new challenges and enhance the impact of future EIB engagement in India,” said EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters.

Vice-President Peeters will confirm the EIB’s interest in supporting the recently approved National Green Hydrogen Mission with a facility of up to €1 billion in support of the nascent Indian green hydrogen ecosystem and renewable energy projects. He will highlight the EIB's interest in boosting India's renewable energy ambitions by backing renewable energy generation, as well as enabling technologies and infrastructure for energy storage, power transmission and distribution. 

The EIB delegation will also meet Sushil Kumar, Managing Director of Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRCL), to visit the Agra Metro project backed by a €250 million EIB loan and to further strengthen the operational partnership.

The Bank’s support for transport in India includes the financing of metro investment in Agra, Bangalore, Bhopal, Kanpur and Lucknow, with a total of €2.45 billion committed since 2016. This makes India the largest beneficiary of EIB transport financing outside Europe.

The EIB is seeking to build on its considerable expertise in the urban mobility sector and in renewable energy by continuing to support these sectors and is exploring other areas of strategic importance for India and the European Union.