India assures full protection to renewable energy investments

India with its most ambitious renewable energy programme in the world, with a target of 15 per cent share in overall energy generation by 2020, today assured investors full protection to the investments made in the country's renewable energy sector, projecting the country as a lucrative destination for investment.

Addressing the plenary session of the renewable energy investment conference `RE-INVEST 2015' in New Delhi today, minister of state (independent charge) for power, coal and new and renewable energy, Piyush Goyal, examined the overall renewable energy potential of the country and discussed various investment opportunities.

Goyal said the government will make sure that the investments in India will be protected and encouraged, adding that the prerequisite for a new investment destination is an atmosphere which makes to do business easier, consistency in policies, bankable contracts and prevalence of rule of law in the country.

The minister assured the investors that though the government is pro-poor it understands the problems of business and will act as a facilitator.

Goyal said the entire aim of the government is to dovetail welfare measures, which is meant for the underprivileged with the efforts to keep the environment clean.

Goyal asserted that the government stands committed to use renewable energy as the country's contribution towards a cleaner and better world to take on challenges of climate change head on and to leave behind a cleaner, better and greener India for the future generation.

In his special address at the session, Michael R Bloomberg, UN Secretary General's Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, urged both India's private sector and foreign investors to continue developing and investing in the clean energy market which create knowledge-intensive jobs and support the nation's goals. All of these steps, he said, are helping to position India as a crucial global leader in addressing climate change, as nations work toward an international climate agreement in Paris this December. No other country, in his view, faces an energy challenge or has seized the energy opportunity on nearly the same scale and scope.

''Prime Minister Modi is showing that confronting climate change goes hand-in-hand with smart economic growth,'' said Michael Bloomberg. ''And from my experience, he is absolutely correct to make cities a central focus of his work. The more India invests in sustainable cities, the stronger its economy will grow.'' said Bloomberg.

In his remarks, Uwe Beckmeyer, deputy minister in the federal ministry of economics and energy , Federal Republic of Germany, said that his country wants stronger, wider and deeper partnership with India in the renewable sector.

Baroness Sandip Verma, minister of energy and climate change, UK, said that she would encourage Indian RE firms to explore UK financing. She also said that her country will support India in three ''Fs'' namely Framework, Financing and Firms.

The three day RE-INVEST 2015 is being attended by 2,800 delegates from 41 countries.