SoftBank’s Solar Investment in India

Japanese conglomerate Softbank which has been one of the largest VC and PE investors in the Indian technology ecosystem now plans to take over the Indian renewable energy sector as well. The company plans a massive $100 billion investment into India’s solar industry over the next 10-15 years. Softbank which already has a JV with the Bharti group in the area of solar business development plans to take the notch up by 2-3 levels. The company has already built up a substantial portfolio of solar power projects in India’s rapidly growing solar energy sector. It is in line with the company’s earlier vision of spending $20 billion that was announced in 2015. This time the plan just got 5x bigger as the company wants not only to set up solar energy generation plants but also wants to manufacture solar equipment here.

GCL’s Solar Factory

Also, read How to Build a Solar Plant in 10 Steps

Softbank is known for its audacious plans and its ever more audacious investments. The company has a finger in almost all large technology sectors in India whether it is e-mobility (Ola), e-commerce (Flipkart) etc. The company has also got vast resources after it raised a $100 billion Vision fund last year. This gives the company ample ammunition to fund huge investment and growth plans. There was news last week that Masayoshi San plans to meet the Prime Minister and ask for a sovereign guarantee on the investment that he is planning. Now Japanese broadcaster NHK reports that the plan has been more or less finalized though details are not known. While a number of big investors in the past have announced huge plans to invest in India’s solar sector, not a lot has been done on the ground. Softbank brings a lot of credibility, given its massive resources and past execution.

Softbank is also tieing up with the world’s biggest solar manufacturer GCL to build a large factory manufacturing solar panels in the country. Given the company’s plans to build massive solar projects, it is expected that the factory’s production could easily be gobbled up by the conglomerates’ own power plant needs. This investment would be India’s biggest FDI investment by far and would really solve a large portion of India’s power demand issues over the coming decade. Softbank has also announced a similar arrangement with Saudi Arabia last year of investing billions of dollars in building gigawatts of solar projects in the sun-baked country.