Regional Dailies

Udupi: Syndicate Bank general manager B. Pramod stressed the need for a change in the banking sector policy vis-à-vis the financing of energy efficiency projects.

In his address at a training programme for credit officers in Manipal on Monday, he said energy efficiency was still not considered a priority sector by the banking industry in the country and there were no specific schemes to encourage tapping of the vast potential in the non-conventional energy sector like solar energy.

At the three-day training programme, organised jointly by Winrock International India (WII) and Bharathiya Vikas Trust (BVT), Pramod said the need to explore native sources of energy was already being felt and the government too was formulating different schemes in this connection.

"But unless the banks come forward to finance such ventures, it will not be possible to achieve the progress at expected levels," he observed.

NABARD official S.T. Seetharam suggested that the Reserve Bank of India should introduce necessary policy changes to support schemes and plans to explore alternative energy. "Though India has been blessed with rich solar energy, it was not yet tapped fully because this venture is capital oriented. The technology should be made affordable, simple and cost-effective so that people come forward to adopt this method of power generation," he said.