India

The private equity arm of investment giant Fidelity International has invested USD54 million in biotechnology company, Richcore Lifesciences. The eight-year old Indian company specializes in biofuel and agricultural industries, among other products and is based in Bangalore.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has launched a national electric vehicle plan to help accelerate consumer adoption and domestic manufacturing of the low carbon transport in the country.

SIDBI Venture is selling its interest in Bangalore-based HHV Solar. The India-focused venture capital firm had made a USD7 million investment through its SME Growth Find in 2008, along with Aureos Capital.

Unconventional gas is becoming big business across the Asia-Pacific as demand for natural gas grows throughout the region’s major industrialized nations, states a new report by business intelligence consultants GlobalData.

No doubt: the Indian solar market has strong fundamentals. Irradiation is very high, power is expensive and in short supply. Solar is getting cheaper. In addition, there are now a host of new policies (NSM phase II, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, etc. – please refer to our other blog entries) promising upwards of 4-GW of new solar installations in the coming months. On the other hand, there are only a few players that are really enjoying themselves. Tier 1 Chinese module manufacturers find price pressures too high – as do many EPCs. Project developers still face difficulties in getting their projects financed. The question is: does anyone earn any money? The answer is: no. But those who are ready to try new approaches will do so in the future.