India Solar Power Projects to Submit Funding Proof by July 24

Companies awarded permits in India’s first national auction of rights to build solar power plants have until July 24 to submit documentation to prove they’ve arranged funding, an official said.

The companies must show they secured funding on or before July 9, said Anil Kumar Agrawal, chief executive officer of NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd., or NVVN, the state-run power trader that’s overseeing the solar program.

“Those deadlines are sacrosanct,” Agrawal said by telephone from New Delhi. “There will not be any extension.”

The December auction granted licenses for 620 megawatts of solar projects to companies including billionaire Anil Ambani’s Reliance Power Ltd. (RPWR) and Lanco Infratech Ltd. (LANCI)

According to auction rules, developers that don’t arrange funding in time must forfeit their permits and bank guarantees they have posted to back their bids. Guarantees are valued between 91.5 million rupees ($2.1 million) and 1.8 billion rupees, the rules show.

To contact the reporter on this story: Natalie Obiko Pearson in Mumbai at npearson7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net