The Solar Finance Capacity Building Alliance (SFCBA) has been jointly formed by Winrock International India (WII); Syndicate Bank (SB), a leading commercial bank; Centre for Technology Development - NGO Resource Centre (CTD NGO-RC), an NGO based in Bangalore; Bharathiya Vikas Trust (BVT), an NGO based in Manipal; and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), India.

The specific objective of the project undertaken by this alliance is to provide training to 5,000 branch mangers (by the trainers to be trained in advance, also under this project) with a view to increase lending in the area of solar energy projects and products. WII is acting as an implementing partner and works in close coordination with the other alliance partners.

The specific project activities are to:

• Organize four half-day conferences to sensitize senior executives of banks and to convince them about the importance of lending in the area of solar energy.
• Train 400 bank officials under the ‘Training of Trainers’ program in the appraisal and financing of solar energy products/projects.
• Hundred groups (4 trainers each) would be formed to conduct branch manager level training courses to introduce participants to the modalities in consumer lending for solar energy products/projects. A total of 5,000 branch manager level bankers will be trained. (February 2004 onwards)
• The alliance works with all the scheduled commercial banks, regional rural banks, manufacturers of solar energy products (including those of Photovoltaic (PV) modules and systems), and other stakeholders in this endeavor. SFCBA closely works with the senior management of all the banks to drive this program to success. The aim is to contribute indirectly to reduce the burden on traditional sources of power generation. This project will be implemented in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Orissa, over a period of three years. The project has large potential for replication in the country as well in the other parts of the world.

The following activities have been completed:

• The four conferences scheduled for senior bankers (Apex) were organized in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata.
• Training-of-Trainers programs (22) were conducted across 13 states. Over 550 master trainers were trained who further imparted training to branch managers. Over 60 banks participated in the process.
• 201 Branch Manager training programs have been arranged across the states where Training-of-Trainers programs were organized. Over 5,000 branch managers have undergone training.
• The program is also focusing on entrepreneur development. The program has trained over 950 young entrepreneurs through 30 programs to come forward and act as service providers for solar products/projects.
• The final report has been submitted to USAID for review.

A workshop was be organized to showcase the impacts of the program where policy makers and other stakeholders were invited. As part of the project, awards were given to Bank Managers who have lent the most for solar home lighting systems. Syndicate Ban was also awarded for sanctioning the maximum number of loans for solar home lighting systems.