Announcing one of the biggest investment pledges in solar energy in India, Japanese telecommunications and internet giant SoftBank, India’s Sunil Bharti Mittal-led Bharti Enterprises and Taiwan’s Foxconn technology on Monday (22nd June) announced joint venture (JV), SBG Cleantech, to set up a 20 gigawatt of solar and wind energy projects in India at an investment of about $20 billion.
SoftBank, which owns one of Japan’s biggest mobile carriers and is the largest shareholder in Chinese e-commerce firm Alibaba, will have the lion’s share control in the three-way JV organization — SBG Cleantech — with Bharti and Foxconn as minority partners.
“Softbank will take the lead and responsibility to make 20 gigawatt as a minimum commitment in the solar space in India. In financial terms, grossly $20 billion will be the scale of investment, probably it could be one of largest investments by a foreign company in India,” Softbank Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son told reporters.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed me to India amid his visit to Japan earlier. We endorse and support the PM’s vision for 100 gigawatt of clean energy by 2022,” Son told.
Sunil Mittal said SBG Cleantech will be headed by Manoj Kohli as its executive chairman while Raman Nanda will be the CEO. It will be headquartered in New Delhi.
