IDBI mulling nuclear power projects funding

IDBI Bank may consider funding civilian nuclear power projects once players firm up their plans in this segment, a top bank official has said.

Several major players like NTPC, the Tata group and Reliance have evinced interest in nuclear power and are awaiting operationalisation of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

"As of now we don't have any proposal but we are not averse to funding nuclear power projects," IDBI Bank deputy managing director Jitender Balakrishnan said.

Balakrishnan said the nuclear power sector held immense potential and the bank will consider all proposals "based on their viability".

For nuclear power projects to take-off in a big way, availability of raw material needs to be ensured on a sustained basis. Once this is ensured, then nuclear power projects will take-off majorly, he said.

This segment has attracted a high-level of interest following the recent nuclear accord signed between India and the United States of America.