SBI Rooftop Solar Refinancing #2

On December 23, 2025, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a member of the World Bank Group, issued a guarantee totaling US$197.67 million for a Non-honoring of Financial Obligations by a State-Owned Enterprise (NHFO-SOE) coverage to Citibank, N.A., Hong Kong Branch for its 5-year non-shareholder loan to the State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest state-owned bank.  

The MIGA-guaranteed loan will be used to refinance the outstanding principal of a US$500 million World Bank (WB) loan to SBI under a program for Grid Connected Rooftop Solar Photovoltaic (GRPV) systems. The WB’s Grid Connected Solar Rooftop Program (P155007) was approved in 2016 with the objective to provide funding for on-lending by SBI to commercial and industrial customers across India as part of a national program to deliver GRPV systems. This is MIGA’s second transaction with SBI for the same use of proceeds under the GRPV program. On April 24, 2025, MIGA issued a NHFO-SOE guarantee to Citibank, N.A., Standard Chartered Bank and Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, to refinance an initial US$200 million of the World Bank loan.  

This MIGA Project responds to the 2018 report “Making the Global Financial System Work for All” by the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, and the G20 Capital Adequacy Framework Review - “Boosting MDBs’ Investing Capacity,” which called for multilateral development banks and MIGA to collaborate on transferring portfolio risk from MDB balance sheets using MIGA’s insurance products, and highlighted the prominent role MIGA could play in supporting financial capacity within the World Bank Group (WBG). The same was further articulated in the WBG’s Evolution Roadmap. This Project represents a continuation  of the “originate to distribute” concept that embodies MIGA and WB working in concert to free up WB’s lending capacity to enable it to undertake new initiatives for more challenging sectors in India. 

Environmental Categorization 

The MIGA guarantee will support the refinancing of operating rooftop solar projects in India. During the operations phase, rooftop solar projects are considered to have low to moderate E&S risk impacts related to occupational health and safety, waste management, and community safety. These risks and impacts can be addressed through mitigation measures, and as such, the MIGA project has been categorized as FI-2 in accordance with MIGA’s Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability (2013). 

Under the WB Program for its financing, the E&S requirements related to the management of risks and impacts such as occupational safety, fire safety, water consumption, regulatory compliance, and grievance management were specified to SBI. The WB had monitored the implementation of these requirements over the years. In line with MIGA’s Policy, MIGA will rely on the E&S requirements specified by the WB; no additional requirements will be specified and MIGA will continue to monitor the Project in line with existing requirements.  

Development Impact 

The MIGA guarantee will help to mobilize private sector capital to SBI, enabling the recycling of the sovereign guarantee for other WB projects in India, and  realizing borrowing savings for SBI. The MIGA-guaranteed loan would be consistent with supporting an important climate finance project aligned with India’s net zero goals. Replacing the WB loan with international private capital backed by a MIGA guarantee is expected to encourage international commercial banks to pursue similar transactions in India and other countries in the region. The Project is consistent with the India Country Partnership Framework FY18-22, extended to December 2024 by the 2023 Performance and Learning Review, in which the use of MIGA credit enhancement guarantees for mobilizing private capital to meet the borrowing requirements of state-owned enterprises for infrastructure projects are explicitly mentioned.