India : Maharashtra Power Distribution Enhancement Program for Agricultural Solarization (ADB-58396-001)

Regions
  • South Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • India
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Maharashtra
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Borrower
Government of India
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Agriculture and Forestry
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 540.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 540.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 540.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Jul 3, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jan 24, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated by the ADB, the proposed results-based lending (RBL) aims to enhance power distribution by supporting the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) of the Government of Maharashtra, India through:

(i) efficient transfer of state-owned renewable energy to agricultural consumers,
(ii) reducing technical losses in distribution, and
(iii) enabling renewable energy penetration.

The outcome: agricultural communities in Maharashtra access to low-carbon electricity and green jobs improved. This includes providing daytime electricity supply through renewable power to at least 900,000 farmers, increasing MSEDCL’s Renewable Energy Purchase Obligation to at least 20%, reducing greenhouse gas emissions through agricultural solarization, lowering the failure rate of distribution transformers connected to agriculture feeders, and generating at least 10,000 direct rural jobs in the renewable energy sector.

The program aims to supply distributed renewable energy to Maharashtra’s agricultural sector, benefitting farmers across 36 districts with positive social and environmental impacts. The RBL Program will implement physical infrastructure activities, including development of 5–20 megawatts (MW) utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) (totaling 1,000 MW under the viability gap funding [VGF]), 240 new substations, 1,500 circuit kilometers of 33 kilovolts (kV) High Tension (HT) lines, 4,500 circuit kilometers of 11 kV HT lines, 6,000 new distribution transformers.

The results-based lending (RBL) program outputs will include developing an Agriculture Solarization Monitoring Dashboard, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition and conducting knowledge and awareness activities for up to 5,000 local participants on green jobs, internship opportunities with MSEDCL for women, and green-energy livelihoods options for up to 300 beneficiaries.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by Bloomberg, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited provides utility services. The Company offers electricity generation, transmission, and distribution services for agricultural, industrial, commercial, and consumer markets. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution serves customers in India.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited Client Energy

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

ADB Team Leader:

Jaimes Kolantharaj - Principal Energy Specialist

No contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

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