India can become the leader in poverty reduction through innovations in sustainable energy, according to Magsaysay awardee, H Harish Hande.
Addressing senior officials of Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB) at Dharwad on Tuesday, he said lack of energy access is one of the greatest barriers to poverty reduction in the country.
He said that more than half of India’s population either has no electricity or suffers from unreliable electricity. That has affected reliable income-generating activities for the under-served populations of the country.
In this regard, there is a need to build appropriate ecosystems. Innovations in rural livelihood-based technologies, appropriate financial products, doorstep delivery models and market linkages need to be given priority, he said.
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P Gopi Krishna, Chairman of KVGB, said the bank has 629 branches catering to 2,045 villages in nine districts of Karnataka, and it is ever ready to lead the way.
In fact, the bank has been extending finance to solar systems since 1994. It was the first ever bank to have formulated a scheme for financing solar systems in India, he said.
Solar energy solutions should be used for the sustainable development of society by providing solutions to meet the needs of people, he added.