Here’s how SoftBank aims to provide electricity in every Indian home

Japanese telco SoftBank, Indian conglomerate Bharti, and Taiwan-based manufacturer Foxconn today announced a joint venture to invest in cleantech startups in India. The fund, named SBG Cleantech, will be a harbinger of solar and wind energy.

“We have already made considerable investments in the technology sector in India. With this partnership, our goal is to create a market-leading ‎clean energy company, to fuel India’s growth with clean and renewable sources of energy,” Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank, said in a statement. (Disclosure: TechinAsia raised funding from SoftBank. See our ethics page for more information.)

This joint venture comes close on the heels of the Indian Prime Minister announcing 100GW solar and 60GW wind targets for India by 2022. SBG Cleantech intends to participate in the 2015-16 round of solar power plant tenders ‎under the National Solar Mission program and state-specific solar programs.

Let there be light

Given its vast population, high irradiation, growing energy demand and power deficit, limited access to fossil fuels, and a large number of unlit villages, India has great potential to be a major solar market. The country has achieved a base of 3.7 GW of solar power, evolved its policies and created a solar ecosystem of installers, manufacturers, developers, financiers, and researchers.

According to India Solar Handbook, solar in India is likely to grow by more than two times in 2015.

SBG Cleantech has appointed Manoj Kohli, Bharti’s emerging businesses head, as executive chairman and Raman Nanda, a senior executive of SoftBank, as the CEO. The fund will be headquartered in Delhi.

Another cleantech fund in India is Infuse Ventures, which is founded by one of India’s most renowned management institutes, the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. It raised US$18 million last year. The fund recently invested in Proklean, which uses bacterial technology to make biodegradable, natural, and non-toxic products for leather processing, textile processing, and household cleaning industries to replace or reduce the use of chemicals.