ICICI Bank has agreed to contribute Rs 100 crore in the form of debt to the green investor network that was launched in Mumbai on Friday. The network was launched at the New Venture India Investor Forum 2007 in Mumbai on Friday and comprises of investors both from India and abroad and are mainly venture capital firms, angel investors, banks and financial institutions. The initiative aims at helping those companies that manufacture energy efficient products but were unable to get finance for their ventures from banks.
Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Investor Forum 2007: New Ventures India in Mumbai on Friday, Nachiket Mor, president, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, who is leading the initiative, said, ?ICICI Bank will contribute the sum of Rs 100 crore in the form of debt for the fund.?
However, he added that no timeframe has been announced by his bank for providing the amount. Prior to it, addressing the seminar, Mor said that the New Venture India programme seeks to facilitate investment in the amount of $250 million in green Indian companies by 2010. Initiated jointly by World Resources Institute (Washington) and the CII-Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (Hyderabad), the new ventures India programme is a premier initiative which looks for innovative enterprises in the sectors like clean technologies, energy efficiency, renewable energy, green building materials and socially responsible ventures.
S Raghupathy, senior director and head GBC (Godrej Green Business Centre), said,?Initially we are planning to have the fund base of Rs 1000 crore (or $250 million), out of which a sum of $50 million will come from equity funds.? Though the energy efficient products have got their market potential, the only thing which was needed by their manufacturers was loans for speeding up their business as the banks were not coming forward to finance them, he said. CII is the facilitator for the initiative.