REC partners with PNB for Rs 550 bn power & infra loans

State-run REC announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Punjab National Bank to jointly explore the possibility of funding projects in the power sector and infrastructure & logistics sector under the consortium arrangement. REC stated that it would partner with PNB to co-finance loans totalling Rs 550 billion over the next three years. In May, REC's chairman and managing director (CMD) Vivek Kumar Dewangan had informed the annual general meeting that the Ministry of Power had granted permission for the company to finance up to 33% of its outstanding loan book in the power sector. He added that the ministry had also authorised the company to provide loans to the non-power infrastructure & logistics sector to support the nation's accelerated development. Dewangan reported that in the first year, they had sanctioned over Rs 857 billion for various projects, spanning metro, ports, airports, oil refineries, highways, steel infrastructure, healthcare, educational institutions, IT infrastructure, fibre optics, and more. This constituted approximately 32% of the company's overall sanctions in the last financial year. REC offers long-term loans and other financial products for the power-infrastructure sector, including generation, transmission, distribution, renewable energy, and emerging technologies like electric vehicles, battery storage, and green hydrogen, among others. More recently, REC has expanded its focus to include the non-power infrastructure sector, and its loan book currently stands at over Rs 4.54 trillion.