Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has sanctioned a total loan of Rs.2,128 crore to three special purpose vehicles (SPVs) of GMR Smart Electricity Distributions Pvt Ltd (GSEDPL).
In a communication to stock exchanges, GSEDPL informed that the IREDA loan, to be disbursed in tranches, will be towards financing smart metering projects being implemented by three SPVs – GMR Agra Smart Meters Ltd, GMR Kashi Smart Meters Ltd and GMR Triveni Smart Meters Ltd. These three SPVs are subsidiaries of GSEDPL, in turn a subsidiary of GMR Power & Urban Infra Ltd (GPUIL).
The mandate
In September 2023, GMR Smart Electricity Distributions Pvt Ltd (GSEDPL) received a letter of award from two state government discoms in Uttar Pradesh to install, integrate, and maintain a total of 75.69 lakh smart meters. GSEDPL is in the process of implementing this project, with a total outlay of Rs.3,467 crore, in consortium with Bosch Global Software Technologies Pvt Ltd as the technical partner. The project cost is proposed to be funded by a mix of debt, equity and internal accruals.
The zone-wise distribution of the project is as follows:
State utility: Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd
Zones: Varanasi, Azamgarh and Prayagraj, Mirzapur (two zones)
No. of smart meters: 50.17 lakh
State utility: Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd
Zones: Agra and Aligarh (two zones)
No. of smart meters: 25.52 lakh
Corporate Guarantee
GMR Power & Urban Infra Ltd (GPUIL) said that it has extended corporate guarantee in favour of IREDA for loan of Rs.440 crore each to the three project SPVs, till commercial operations date (COD). Corporate guarantee for balance amount will also be extended by GPUIL once the approval of shareholders for the material related party transaction is obtained by the company.
Wholly-owned subsidiary
It may be noted that GMR Smart Electricity Distributions Pvt Ltd (GSEDPL) — earlier known as GMR Mining & Energy Ltd — was incorporated for carrying out the business of power distribution including smart metering.
While GMR Power & Urban Infra Ltd (GPUIL) held about 82 per cent equity stake in GSEDPL, the remaining was held by GMR Generation Assets Ltd, another subsidiary of GPUIL. In September 2023, GPUIL acquired the entire stake of GMR Generation Assets Ltd in GSEDPL, making GSEDPL a wholly-owned subsidiary of GPUIL.
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