India’s Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) has decided to significantly increase the loan repayment period for hydro projects funded by it to 20 years.

The corporation is currently providing loans with a 15-year repayment period after the moratorium of five to six years in the case of large hydro projects. The increased tenure of repayment period of 20 years will increase the loan tenure effectively to 24-26 years, which could reduce the tariff for hydro projects financed by the Corporation by about 20-25 paise (0.57 US cents) per kWh.

The company has also decided to increase the repayment period for transmission projects from the existing 12 years to 15 years after the usual moratorium period.