ITI to invest Rs 150 crore to increase its solar panel capacity

ITI Limited has planned to invest around Rs 150 crore to scale up its solar panel manufacturing capacity to 90 MW in the next fiscal. The company has a solar panel capacity of 18 MW currently.

The company has a solar panel manufacturing facility at Naini in Uttar Pradesh. The company is expecting at least Rs 500 crore from the government in the next fiscal for meeting its various capital expenditure (capex) requirements.

The company’s Chairman and Managing Director R M Agarwal has said that the company will be investing Rs 150 crore for scaling up the capacity, which it hopes to get from the budget allocated to the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications. Given the kind of demand they are witnessing in the solar space, especially in the rooftop segment, from corporate and commercial establishments as well as the state governments. They are ready to tap that opportunity.

The company has plans to raise Rs 1,600 crore through a follow-on public offer (FPO). The FPO proceeds will have to be used towards partial repayment of loans, funding the working capital requirements and general purpose. For their capex, they will have to wait for the ministry to release the funds.

ITI has executed various turnkey orders for Bharatnet, telecom towers, and Uttar Pradesh police headquarters. ITI has also deployed 15 MW solar power project for the Solar Energy Corporation of India. According to industry estimates, as of September 2019, cumulative installed solar capacity in India stood at 33.8 GW, of which rooftop solar installations crossed 4 GW.