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Suresh P. Iyengar

Mumbai, July 29 Green Ventures India, a subsidiary of a New York-based asset management company, Green Ventures International, has completed first of its kind Rs 1,360 crore India Carbon Fund-I to tap the innumerable Indian projects generating carbon credits.

The Cayman Islands-based fund has identified 40 projects and is conducting due diligence of five projects to invest Rs 68 crore this month.

Mr Vinay Bharathwaj, Director, Green Ventures India, said, “Though we are open to all projects generating carbon credits, our focus would be on wind farms, biomass, thermal and hydro projects”.

The company targets wind farms in Coimbatore, Erode, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Kanyakumari and Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) project in Andhra Pradesh.

The company is also evaluating investments in hydro-electric project in Himachal Pradesh and Nepal. Green Ventures will pick up stake in the project equivalent to the amount of carbon credits to be generated.

The company has formulated a 12-point screening mechanism and risk rating formula for price discovery of carbon credit at the initial stage of the project.

After negotiating with the promoters, Green Ventures will provide expertise in the carbon emission receipts (CERs) validation process free-of cost. Due to the value of disinter-mediating multiple “carbon brokers”, we are able to offer a better price to the project sponsor, Mr Bharathwaj said.

India has the highest number of unsold carbon credits compared to other countries. As per market data, India has more than 46 million unsold carbon credits, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the world’s unsold CERs.

However, Mr Bharathwaj said, more than 50 per cent of India’s CERs still have no buyers compared to less than five per cent in China.

India has numerous small CDM (clean development mechanism) projects generating sizeable carbon credits, which becomes difficult for international agencies to tap on. Green Ventures intends to invest in the small projects at the initial stage and club the carbon credits from different projects to offer them as a package to buyers abroad.

Based on the success of the India venture, the company has plans to launch carbon fund for China and Latin America.

More Stories on : Environment | Maharashtra

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