PV Magazine reports that India’s government is ready to introduce its first U.S. dollar bidding process for solar tenders in an effort to attract greater overseas investment and cut development costs in the country.
State-owned National Thermal Power Corporation, will award tenders for between 500MW-1GW this month, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy joint secretary Tarun Kapoor told Bloomberg in New Delhi. According to Kapoor, dollar-linked tariffs could potentially lower borrowing costs by a third, and it will incentivize more international companies to India’s solar market. The Indian government has targeted 100 GW of solar PV capacity by 2022.
National Thermal Power Corporation will also set up a private fund to manage the currency risk and shield retail customers from any fluctuations, with those awarded the contracts paid the rupee equivalent of the dollar tariff set to be determined by the bidding process. “We will be creating a self-hedging mechanism to ensure that it does not cause any distress to the purchasing distribution companies,” power minister Piyush Goyal told the Financial Times. Distribution companies that purchase this solar power would also contribute to a ‘hedging reserve’, which would be used to soften any costs incurred should the rupee depreciate.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
